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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



FACTS ABOUT GIRLS, 

FOE GIELS. . 



^jirrg: a Election: of ftttasftng atrb |usirutitoe 
gtiwooies of dirlg. 



By Rev. RICHARD DOXKERSLEY. 



• Examples strike all human hean 




SIX ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Nat) Work: 

PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PORTER, 

SUNDAY 8CHOOL UNION, 200 MULBEEBY-STBEET. 

7 &/yt./Mr 



. H (o 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S60, by 
CARLTON & POUTER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 
for the Southern District of New York. 



V 



CONTENTS. 



PAGS 

" But i love Jesus Christ more " 9 

" i will tey to peat " 11 

a valuable pocket-book 12 

Little Martha's Temperance Society 14 

The Children's Prayer-meeting 18 

Answers to Scriptural Questions 19 

" i would rather be pure in heart " 21 

A deeply pious Girl 22 

The Observant and Industrious Girl 28 

A Girl taking a Boy's Whipping- 29 

A Tribute to Julia 33 

What little Girls can do 34 

Happy Death of a little Indian Girl 35 

Be truthtul 36 

The rich Child 37 

A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE 37 

61 Mamma, what is an Infidel ?" 38 

^Iappy Death of Adelia " 40 

A poetic Girl 44 

" I cannot pray of myself " 45 

A beautiful Beply 46 

" He will not forsake us " 46 

The dying Bather and his little Girl 47 

The pious Child and her unconverted Mother. . . 49 

4i Why strike so hard V 51 

The dying Mother and her two Daughters 52 



6 CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Ann Baynard 54 

Little Susan < 56 

How to conquer Unkindness 57 

The Mother admonished 59 

Family Prayer conducted by two Daughters 60 

" Speak to my Father " 62 

" A Sister's Tears" 63 

The little Teacher 64 

The little Princess 65 

" Mother, I am tired to Death I" 66 

The little Eeprover 68 

A Sister's Love .". 71 

The little Praying Girl 74 

Happy Death of two Children 76 

The little Bible Student 78 

The Flower Girl, the Porter, and the Treasure 79 

A curious Machine 85 

A little Christian Girl 85 

Try to secure a good Name 87 

i have given my heart to the saviour 89 

The little Girl's important Question 91 

Sad Death of a little Girl 91 

The tolling Bell, or Susie's Faith „ 92 

a dangerous sport 96 

A new Key 99 

The little Teacher 100 

The generous little Girl 101 

Pious Children die happy ] 02 

See how a good Child can die 104 

The little Girl's Way of doing Good 105 

" It is a pleasant thing to die " 106 

The little Comforter 109 

The History of a Lie 112 

The little Swiss Girl and her Bible 114 

The Lost Daughter found • 116 

My first Lie. 118 



CONTENTS. 7 

PAGB 

A little Indian Girl 120 

Little Bella's folk Texts . 122 

M I'm afeaid I've told a Lie " 124 

One Sin leads to another 126 

The Pooe may go to Heaven , 129 

Origin of a beautiful Poem 129 

" Father, I could not tell a Lie " 131 

The Power of Love 132 

The Girl who was too much for the Priest 133 

The Girl who loved to work 136 

What it is that goes to Heaven 137 

11 Lord, teach rs how to prat " 138 

" The Young Cottager "..... 139 

An affecting Scene 141 

The little Girl and Family Prayer 142 

" What do you cry for, Mother 2" 144 

Evening Entertainment 145 

How a Teacher was brought to Christ 145 

A good Answer 147 

The happy Girl 147 

The little Girl and her Infidel Uncle 151 

Polite Children 153 

" Tell me a Story " 155 

" I'm sure to be disappointed " 156 

" Heaping Coals of Fire on his Head " 159 

A wise Answer 160 

Conversion and Death of Harriet H 161 

What the Children sald 163 

A Child of Light 166 

Pity the Poor 168 

The broken Sugar Bowl 173 

The Benevolent Little Girls 175 

What little Sarah did 177 

M In Honor preferring one another " 179 

Visions of a Dying Child 180 

The Children and the Bear 181 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The generous little Girl 182 

The dying Girl and her Grandmother 183 

" Thou enowest that i love Thee " 184 

The little Girl's Heart 184 

Overcoming Evil with Good 189 

The Girl who loved Jesus 190 

"Why a little Girl prayed 191 

The Profane Swearer reformed by his Daughter 192 

The little Girl reproving the Sailor 193 

The little Girl and her Papist Father 194 

A smart Girl 197 

How a vain Girl was cured 198 

An affectionate Sister 200 

An affectionate Daughter 203 

My Brother is pretty too 206 

Order and Neatness 207 

The noble-hearted Children 209 

" Where is your Bible, Brother f" 212 

The little Blind Girl's Gratitude 215 

A little Girl's Firmness 216 

a valuable secret . . . , 218 

Burying the Bible 220 



ilittstotiflttis. 



Illustrated Title 1 

The Loving Sister 70 

Two Girls without the Key 98 

A Snow Storm 108 

Little Girl and her Father. 186 

The Affectionate Daughter 202 



FACTS ABOUT GIELS. 



"BUT I LOYE JESUS CHRIST MORE." 
A large family who resided a few miles 
from the city of New York were accustomed 
entirely to neglect both the church and the 
Sabbath school ; in fact, both father and mother 
were opposed to religious instruction of any 
kind. It so happened, however, that a little 
daughter of those parents became connected 
with a Sabbath school, and was soon very 
much interested in the instruction she received. 
When the father heard of her attendance, he 
forbade her going again ; but the little girl, sup- 
posing that he was not really in earnest, continued 
to go. At length the father, mother, brothers, 
and sisters threatened, in decided tones, to 
turn her out of the house, if she should again 



10 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

"be seen at the Sabbath school. She, however, 
when Sunday came, dressed herself, except 
putting on her bonnet. When the hour arrived 
for school to' commence, she went to her father, 
and taking him by the hand, said : " Father, I 
love you, but I love Jesus Christ more, so I 
now bid you farewell." 

She then took leave of her mother in the 
same way, and also of her brothers and sisters, 
and left for school. This warm regard of their 
little daughter for religious intruction touched 
a tender chord in the bosom of the father, not- 
withstanding his apparent hard-hear tedness ; 
he did not repeat his prohibition, but followed 
silently after her to school, went in, and on 
witnessing the instruction given to the children, 
became at once reconciled to his daughter and 
interested in the school. The next Sabbath he 
persuaded his wife to accompany him, and she 
w^as pleased also ; and finally the whole family 
became interested in the Sabbath school, and 
useful and active members of the Church, thus 
showing the importance of even very young 
persons acting out the dictates of an enlightened 
conscience, and of maintaining a Christian 
spirit under all circumstances. 



'I WILL TRY TO PRAY." 11 



" I WILL TRY TO PRAY." 
In the northwestern part of Pennsylvania is 
a district in which, until within a very few 
years past, the state of religion arid morals was 
truly deplorable. Infidelity, Sabbath-breaking, 
intemperance, and almost every other kind of 
immorality prevailed. One or two pious 
young men went to reside in the village, and 
commenced a Sabbath school. The Lord soon 
owned their labors in the conversion of a 
number of children. One of those who had 
rejoiced in pardoning mercy was a little girl ? 
who became exceedingly desirous of telling her 
former companions of the joy derived from 
believing in a crucified Redeemer. She accord- 
ingly embraced the first opportunity of visiting 
a young friend, whose father was of considera- 
ble influence in the community, but an infidel. 
The evening had passed away, and it was time 
to retire. 

The gentleman, who had during the even- 
ing listened to the conversation of the girl, 
had heard her say that she had a Father in 
heaven to whom she prayed, and a Saviour in 
whose merits she trusted for salvation. He 
rather tauntingly said : 



12 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

" Well, miss, it seems you pray ; suppose 
you pray with us before we retire.* 5 

The request was so unexpected, that for a 
moment she seemed to lose her self-pos session ; 
but after a short time she replied : 

" Sir, when I remember that I pray to Him 
who created the heavens and the earth, I hum- 
ble myself before him, and if you will kneel 
with me I will try to pray." 

He did so ; the Lord heard her prayer, and 
by his Spirit showed the infidel his awful state 
as a sinner, and he found no rest until he 
trusted in Christ as his Saviour. Thus out of 
the mouth of babes and sucklings God per- 
fected his praise. 



A VALUABLE POCKET-BOOK. 
A gentleman, while leaving an omnibus, in 
the city of New York, dropped his pocket-book, 
and went some distance before he discovered 
his loss ; then hastily returning, he asked every 
person he met if they had seen a pocket-book. 
At length, meeting a little girl ten years old, 
he made the same inquiry. She asked him 
what kind of a pocket-book he had lost ; he 



A VALUABLE POCKET-BOOK. 13 

described it. Then unfolding her apron, she 
inquired : 

"Is this it?" 

" Yes, that is mine ; come into the store 
with me." 

They entered ; he opened the book, counted 
the notes, and examined the papers. " They 
are all right," said he ; " fifteen notes of a 
thousand dollars each; had they fallen into 
other hands I might never have seen them 
again ; take, then, my little girl, this note of a 
thousand dollars as a reward for your honesty, 
and as a lesson for me to be more careful in 
the future." 

" No," said the child, " I cannot take it. I 
have been taught at Sunday school not to take 
what is not mine, and my parents would not be 
pleased if I took the note home ; they might 
suppose I had stolen it." 

"Well, then, my child, show me where 
your parents live." 

The little girl took him to a humble tene- 
ment in an obscure street, rough but clean. 
The gentleman told her parents the facts of the 
case; they replied that their child had acted 
correctly : they were poor, it is true, but their 
pastor had always told them not to set their 
heart on rich gifts. The gentleman told them 



14 FACTS ABOfT GIRLS. 

they must take the note, and he was sure they 
would make a good use of it, from the princi- 
ples on which they had acted. 

The pious parents then blessed their bene- 
factor, for such he proved to be ; they paid 
debts which had disturbed their peace, and the 
benevolent giver furnished the good man, in 
his occupation as a carpenter, with employment, 
enabling him to rear an industrious family in 
comfort. The little girl grew up, married a 
respectable man in New York, and rejoiced 
that she was born of pious parents, who secured 
her happiness by sending her to a Sunday 
school. 



LITTLE MARTHA'S TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. 

A Christian ladv in Massachusetts, feeling 
a desire to do something for the extension of 
the cause of Christ, resolved to collect some 
poor children into a Sabbath school, where 
they might receive religious instruction, of 
which they and their parents were entirely 
ignorant. The first family she visited was that 
of a poor miserable drunkard. His wife and 
children, and everything around them, bore 
marks of poverty, degradation, and wretched- 



MARTHA'S TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. 15 

ness. They had four small children, only two 
of whom, Martha, aged six, and her little 
brother Francis, of four, were old enough 
to attend school. After learning that clothes 
would be provided for them, the father con- 
sented that they should attend. 

They soon became deeply interested in learn- 
ing about the Saviour. Although they lived a 
mile from the church, they were usually first 
at school. Martha was taken sick, and was for 
some time deprived of the privileges of her class. 
One morning, as she began to recover, she ap- 
peared unusually pleased on receiving a visit 
from her teacher. 

" The children," said the mother, "have been 
almost impatient for you to come ; they have a 
new plan in their head. For a few days past 
their thoughts and conversation have been 
about the Temperance Society. Martha has 
come to the conclusion that she can live all her 
days without tasting another drop, and wants 
to sign the pledge. I have tried to put them 
off, by telling them that I did not know that 
children so young were permitted to join. But 
they would not give it up." 

Martha said : " O I think if mother, and 
Francis, and myself join, we can persuade fa- 
ther to join too." 



16 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

"Francis," said the teacher, "do you think 
you can always refuse the sweet taste at the 
bottom of the glass when you father offers it 
to you 1" 

" Yes, and I will stick and hang from it as 
long as I live." 

Their names were taken, and they were re- 
quested to persuade their associates to join 
with them. Martha at once exclaimed : 

"I will see H. C; I guess I can get her to 
join, for her mother drinks as much as pa 
does, and the little children suffer for victuals 
and clothes. O mother, I wish we could get 
them to join the Temperance Society." 

As soon as Martha was well enough to walk 
out she went to the house of Mrs. C. She 
first enlisted little H. in the cause, and then 
they told the mother about it, and entreated 
her to join. She was awakened by the earnest 
requests of these children, and they did not 
leave her until she had promised to think of the 
subject. At the end of three days she put her 
name to the pledge, and ever after that was a 
temperate woman. 

Encouraged by this success, they commenced 
the work at home. They not only begged of 
their father to put away the poisonous stuff, 
but daily in secret, and at his side, they prayed 



MARTHA'S TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. 17 

that God would give him a new heart, that he 
might love and serve him on earth, and be pre- 
pared to dwell with him in heaven. Francis, 
in particular, would kneel by him, and earnest- 
ly beg of God to give them all new hearts, and 
save his poor father from a drunkard's grave. 

Whenever the father came home at night 
under the influence of intoxicating liquors, cross 
and angry, his mouth was shut when he saw his 
little son kneeling with his Bible before him, 
begging that he would repent, for no drunkard 
could enter the kingdom of heaven. By the 
decision and zeal of his children he was silenced 
and confounded. Neither by flattery nor by 
persuasion could they be persuaded to taste one 
drop of ardent spirits, or even take water from 
a liquor glass. 

One night little Francis was taken suddenly 
ill ; his father rose and brought him some 
water. He no sooner touched it than he ex- 
claimed : 

t; It is in your rum tumbler; I can't take 
it!? 5 

When ' he was so ill that he was not ex- 
pected to live, he refused to have rum ap- 
plied externally because he had signed the 
pledge. 

The prayers of these children were heard 



18 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

and answered ; the father abstained from the 
poison, and it is hoped also that he has been 
found in his right mind sitting at the feet of 
Jesus. 



THE CHILDREN'S PRAYER-MEETING. 

A poor man on returning to his cottage 
found that all his family, which consisted of a 
wife and seven children, were absent. At this, 
he was much alarmed; but, on listening, he 
heard the voice of a child up stairs. On going 
there he was astonished to find his children 
kneeling in the attitude of prayer. The eldest 
girl led their devotions. He asked what they 
were doing ; they replied : 

"We are holding a prayer-meeting while 
mother is out." 

The oldest girl bore an excellent character. 
She went from one neighborhood to another, 
reading the Bible, of which she has an astonish- 
ing knowledge. When asked why she had 
selected a particular chapter in Genesis, she 
replied : 

"Because it shows how sin came into the 
world." 



AKSWEKS TO SCRIPTURAL QUESTIONS. 19 

When asked why she had chosen a particular 
Psalm, she said : 

"Because it shows how sin is forgiven and 
our hearts renewed." 



ANSWERS TO SCRIPTURAL QUESTIONS. 

A girl fifteen years of age, by paying a 
penny a week in a Sunday school, obtained a 
Bible. The following answers, which she gave 
to questions proposed to her by her minister 
half a year afterward, show the use she had 
made of it. Being asked to prove that man 
was a sinner, and as such exposed to God's dis- 
pleasure, she immediately gave the following 
texts : Rom. v, 12 ; Gen. v, 3 ; Gen. vi, 5, 6 ; 
Gen. viii, 21 ; Job xi, 12 ; Job xv, 16 ; Psalms 
xiv, 1 ; Eccles. ix, 3 ; Isaiah liii, 6 ; lxiv, 6 ; 
Jer. xvii, 9 ; Rom. viii, 7 ; 1 Cor. ii, 14 ; 
Titus iii, 3 ; Eph. ii, 3 ; Psalm li, 5 ; Rom. 
i, 18; iii, 9 ; Gal. iii, 10 ; James ii, 10. 

She was then requested to present Scripture 
proof that Jesus Christ died for sinners, when 
she gave the following : Isaiah liii, 3 ; Romans 
iii, 25; Rom. iv, 25; Rom. v, 8 ; 1 Cor. 
xv, 3 ; 2 Cor. v, 21 ; Eph. ii, 16 ; Col. i, 14; 

Facts about Girls. 2 



20 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

1 Thess. iv, 14; Titus ii, 14; Heb. i, 3; 
vii, 27; ix, 11, 12; x, 19. 

Being next called upon to prove the duty of 
repentance, she quoted the following : Ezekiel 
xviii, 30; Mark i, 15 ; Luke xxiv, 47; Acts 
ii, 38 ; Acts xvii, 30. 

The question being put whether repentance 
is the gift of God, she replied by giving the two 
following: Zech. xii, 10 ; Acts v, 31. 

She was then desired to name some verses 
respecting faith, when she quoted Mark xi, 22 ; 
Luke xvii, 5 ; Acts xvi, 31 ; Rom. iv, 5 ; Acts 
x, 43; Mark ix, 23 ; Phil, i, 27 ; Heb. xi, 21 ; 

2 John iii, 28. 

Next she w T as requested to prove the duty 
of prayer from the mouth 6*f Jesus Christ and 
from the writings of St. Paul. The following 
were her selections : Matt, xxvi, 41 ; 1 Thess. 
v, 17. 

When asked to give a promise annexed to 
prayer, she gave Matt, vii, 7 ; etc. 

When desired to give some passage enforc- 
ing obedience, she turned to the sermon on the 
mount and to Rom. xii, 1 ; etc. 

Being asked for a verse showing the duty of 
children, she repeated Eph. vi, 1-3. 

Let me request my youthful reader to get 
her Bible and find and read all the passages 



"PURE IN HEART." 21 

here given, and she will be astonished and de- 
lighted at the correctness of the answers given 
by this remarkable girl, who took so much de- 
light in reading and studying the best of all 
books. 



"I WOULD RATHER BE PURE IN HEART." 

A gentleman, in a visit among the poor, 
met with one of his little Sabbath-school schol- 
ars, a girl not six years old, who had just be- 
gun to read the New Testament. This child, 
being fond of singing, was anxious to possess 
one of the school hymn books, which the gen- 
tleman kindly promised her, on condition that 
she would learn to read the fifth and sixth 
chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel within the 
space of a fortnight. The little girl immediate- 
ly undertook the task, and having brought her 
two chapters to the gentleman, began to read; 
but when she had finished the first twelve 
verses, he caused her to stop in order to inquire 
of her which of the qualities described in the 
beatitudes she should desire most to possess. 

She paused a moment and then replied with 
a modest smile : ;i I would rather be pure in 
heart." 



22 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

That he might ascertain whether she really 
understood the meaning of this answer, the 
gentleman inquired why she preferred this grace 
to any of the others. Her reply was really 
beautiful for one so young. It was : 

"Sir, if I should but obtain a pure heart, I 
should then possess all the other qualities 
spoken of in the chapter." 



A DEEPLY PIOUS GIRL. 

Dorothea was the daughter of a poor but 
virtuous widow, and at the time this story 
commences she was about ten years old. The 
mother, not having it in her power to give up 
her time entirely to the education of her child, 
and fearing that she might acquire bad habits 
among her young companions, placed her under 
the care of an excellent and pious female teacher, 
with whom she made rapid progress in piety, 
and stored her young mind with many invalu- 
able lessons, but more especially that of mak- 
ing our blessed Saviour the model of her life. 
When she returned home she became the com- 
fort of the family. 

The minister of the place, being struck with 



A DEEPLY PIOUS GIRL. 23 

the superiority of Dorothea's conduct to that of 
the other young persons whom he instructed, 
and beholding with admiration the. wonderful 
effects which divine grace had wrought upon 
her soul, begged her to give him some account 
of her habitual conduct, and manner of living 
with her former teacher. 

"Sir," replied Dorothea, "what I do is, I 
fear, very little compared with what I ought to 
do; but I have never forgotten the advice 
which my teacher gave me when I was not 
more than eleven years old. She often ex- 
horted me to make Jesus Christ the pattern of 
all my actions, my guide and example in every 
kind of trial, and this I humbly strive to do. 
"When I awake in the morning, and while I am 
rising, I think of the Holy Child of Bethlehem, 
who offered himself a sacrifice to God the Fa- 
ther; and in humble imitation of him, I offer 
myself a sacrifice to God, by consecrating the 
day and all my labors to his service. When 
I pray, I think of Jesus Christ praying too, and 
adoring the Father, and endeavor, as far as 
possible, to bring my heart into the same holy 
frame. When at work, I think how Jesus 
Christ labored for my salvation ; and then, so 
far from complaining, join my labors to his in 
humble love and resignation. When receiving 



24 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

the commands of my parents or superiors, I 
recollect how submissive and obedient Jesus 
was to his mother and to Joseph, and try to 
conform my spirit unto his example. If de 
sired to perform anything painful or unpleas- 
ant, I think how Christ submitted to the death 
of the cross for my sake, which enables me 
cheerfully to fulfill my duty however painful or 
difficult it may be. If any one speaks ill of 
me, or abuses me, I make no reply, but suffer 
all in silence ; remembering with what patience 
Christ endured the most cruel torments, cal- 
umnies, and accusations. I reflect, moreover, 
on the innocence of Jesus ; he did not deserve 
the evil he endured ; whereas I, a poor sinner, 
deserve far greater evils than those I am 
called upon to bear. When taking my daily 
meals, I think of the temperance of Jesus, aim- 
ing that all should be done to the glory of God. 
If I am obliged to eat any thing disagreeable, I 
remember the gall which was given to our 
blessed Saviour on the cross, and for his sake 
make a cheerful sacrifice of my inclination. If 
I have not enough food to satisfy my hunger, 
still I am content when I recollect that Jesus 
fasted forty days and forty nights ; that he 
suffered hunger and thirst for our sakes, to ex- 
piate the sins and intemperance of men* 



A DEEPLY PIOUS GIRL. 25 

When I take any recreation, I represent to my- 
self Jesus Christ, meek, affable, and holy in all 
conversation with his apostles. When I hear 
any evil speaking, or am witness to any sin, I 
pray that God will pardon the offender ; recol- 
lecting how the heart of Christ was pierced 
with grief when he saw his heavenly Father 
thus profaned. When I think on the number- 
less sins that are committed in the world, and 
the grievous manner in which God's conlmand- 
ments are too frequently broken, I sigh, and 
long to 'obtain that holy temper which we may 
conceive our Saviour to have felt when he said, 
' O holy Father, the world knoweth thee not !' 
When I attend on public worship I join with 
all my heart and soul in the holy sentiments 
of Jesus, who sacrificed himself for the glory of 
the Lord, in order to expiate the sins of men 
and purchase their salvation. When I sing, or 
hear others sing the praises of God, then it is 
that c I rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the 
God of my salvation ;' then it is I fancy my- 
self listening to that glorious hymn which 
Jesus sang with his disciples after the holy 
sacraments. When I lie down to sleep, then 
also I meditate on Jesus, who only took repose 
that he might consecrate himself with renewed 
vigor to the glory of his Father, or I meditate 



26 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

on the difference between my bed and the cross 
of Christ, on which nevertheless he lay down 
like a lamb, offering his life and soul to God ; 
after which I go to sleep, repeating in my 
heart the words of the dying Jesus : ' Father, 
into thy hands I commend my spirit." * : 

The clergyman, astonished at finding so 
much wisdom in a poor young villager, ex- 
claimed : " O Dorothea, how happy are you ! 
what* comfort, what happiness you must 
enjoy !" 

" It is true, indeed," replied she, t; thut I have 
great comfort in serving God; but I must 
confess I have also my share of trouble, and 
many conflicts to undergo. It is often very 
difficult to bear the ridicule of those who scoff 
at me, and still more so to subdue my own 
passions, which are naturally very strong. Al- 
though God gives me strength, he still suffers 
me to meet with frequent and grievous tempt- 
ations." 

" How then do you manage.'* said the clergy- 
man, "to overcome these temptations V' 

Dorothea replied : u O sir, when my soul is 
sorrowful, and my spirit is disquieted within 
me, then I think of my Saviour, weary, com- 
fortless, and dying on the cross, and with him 
I say in my heart those words which he so 



A DEEPLY PIOUS GIKL. 27 

often uttered in the garden of Olives : 4 Fa- 
ther, thy will be done !' As to my tempta- 
tions, when I find within a tendency to sin, or 
an inclination the follow the bad example of 
my young companions, and partake of their 
giddy amusements, I fancy to myself that 1 
hear Jesus saying to me : ' What, my child, 
wilt thou also forsake me, and give thyself a 
prey to this vain world, and all its sinful pleas- 
ures % Wilt thou too, Dorothea, withdraw thy 
heart from me? Are there not already too 
many who transgress my laws ? Wilt thou 
also become one of them V Then I reply in 
my heart, 'No, my God, I will never forsake 
thee. Until death will I be faithful. Lord, 
unto whom shall I go if I abandon thee % for 
thou alone hast the words of eternal life.' 
This thought soon fills me with strength and 
courage. What, indeed, can be more noble 
than to endeavor to follow the example of our 
Lord % What more delightful than the attempt 
to imitate the Lord our Saviour ? What greater 
happiness than the service of so good a master f* 
What a remarkable girl Dorothea must have 
been. But true religion will work a wonder- 
ful change in the character of any girl. It im- 
proves both head and heart. 



28 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 



THE OBSERVANT AND INDUSTRIOUS GIRL. 

A girl about twelve years of age, who 
was very fond of reading, was sitting one 
evening in her father's garden, near a bee-hive, 
with a book in her hand. Her father observed 
her take particular notice of the bees as they 
flew in and out of the hive, and then saw her 
looking very attentively at the book. He 
asked her why she had taken her seat so near 
the hive, and whether she was not afraid of be- 
ing stung? 

" O no, father," she said, " I am not afraid 
of these pretty creatures ; but I wish to know 
more about their nature and employments, and 
for that purpose I have brought this book with 
me which contains an account of bees. I have 
for some time been noticing their activity, and 
reading about them, and find that God who 
made them to be industrious and provide their 
food in due season, expects me to be active 
too." 

Her father was highly delighted, and ex- 
pressed a wish that all young persons would em- 
ploy their leisure time in reflecting upon the 
admirable works of God in creation, in provi- 
dence, and redemption. 



A GIRL TAKING A BOY'S WHIPPING. 29 

Some of my youthful readers may have met 
with that pretty poem commencing 

" How doth, the little busy bee 

Improve each shining hour, 
And gather honey all the day 

From every opening flower." 



A GIRL TAKIXG A BOY'S WHIPPING. 

Among the children at the Five Points. New 
York, may be found almost every variety of 
character. Two of this class of children were 
not long since brought into our house, and sur- 
rendered to our entire control by their father. 
One of them was an actor in the following 
scene : 

It is our custom at evening prayer to hear 
the children repeat the verses of Scripture each 
one (adults and children) is required to learn 
during the day. One evening two of the boys 
were very unruly, and were ordered to stand 
up for correction after our service was ended. 
"When the time came, the two were called 
down to the superintendent's chair, and after 
some conversation it was decided that they 
must receive three blows on the hand, admin- 



30 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

istered with a small strap of leather about as 
broad as a child's little finger. 

At the time the boys were called down, a 
little girl, a favorite with Mr. B., came from 
her seat and stood beside his chair, with her 
little hand resting upon his shoulder. Just as 
the sentence was about to be executed she said : 

"I know it was wrong, sir, but that boy 
don't know any better," and she pointed 
to a lad who was indeed half-witted, a 
poor piece of human flood wood, not good for 
much. 

" Well, Nellie, you are right there ; he don't 
know much better, and for your sake I will 
spare him. Take your seat my lad. Now, 
Brown, hold out your hand." 

" O, you won't whip him, will you, sir?" said 
the little intercessor, with a pleading voice. 

"Why not, Nellie?" 

" O, because you let the other one go !" said 
the dear little special pleader. 

" My dear," said the superintendent, " that 
won't do. I let Sammy off because he did' 
not know any better. But Brown is a sharp 
lad, and he knew he was doing wrong. I 
think he deserves to be punished." 

" O no, sir, don't!" cried Nellie. 

"If I let this lad go now all the children 



A GIKL TAKING A BOY'S WHIPPING. 31 

will do wrong, hoping that some one will beg 
them off. Besides, he does not sav that he is 
sorry, nor promise to do better." 

" But, sir, he will do better. I will promise 
that he will be a good boy for a month if you 
forgive him this time." 

"For a month! Why, my dear, I should 
forget all about it, and so would he, and so 
would you; it is too long." 

" Well, for a week, then. If he is a naughty 
boy I will take the whipping for him." 

"You will ! What! be whipped on this little 
hand if Brown is a naughty boy V 

" Yes, sir ; he will be good. You will let him 
go, won't you, sir ? M 

" What do you say, Brown 2" asked the su- 
perintendent, turning to the lad ; " shall 1 take 
this little girl as security for you, or whip you 
now r 

" Whip me" said Brown, promptly. He evi- 
dently was touched, and had no desire to make 
another suffer for his fault. 

"Well said, my son! well said! But you 
may take your seat, and don't forget that if 
you are naughty, and deserve to be punished, 
I shall whip the little girl's hand as much as 
you deserve. You would not like to see her 
suffer. Then be careful." 



32 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

i 

The lad went to his seat, sorry, for the first 
time in his life, that he had not got a whipping. 

"Now, Nellie, remember, if I have to make 
Brown stand up for misconduct, and he de- 
serves to be punished, I must whip your own 
hand, just as certainly as I would whip his." 

" Yes, sir." Then, after a moment's pause, 
the little one, with a roguish twinkle of the eye, 
continued : " But, sir, you would not whip me 
very hard, would youV * 

After a few words to press the simple prin- 
ciples of the atonement — of Jesus Christ, the 
innocent, suffering freely for the guilty, and be- 
coming surety for the believer — our little com- 
pany were dismissed to their beds. 

For the week to come no boy in the house 
was more attentive and quiet than Brown. 
Not a sound or a fault was discovered in all 
the time. When the week was ended the 
superintendent called the little surety to his 
chair and asked her : 

" Well, Nellie, the week is up. What sort 
of a boy has Brown been?" 

a A first-rate boy, sir," and her eyes spark- 
led, and her face was all aglow with delight. 

" Well, my child, you are free, and Brown 
has learned a better lesson than a hundred 
whippings could teach him." 



A TRIBUTE TO JULIA. 33 



A TRIBUTE TO JULIA. 

Julia A. Sanborn, of Readfield, Maine, who 
went to her heavenly home May 20, 1859, 
after a short earthly abode of nine years and 
eight months, was in many respects a mature 
Christian. Heaven, angels, and Jesus were as 
real and vivid to her as home, parents, and 
playmates. Her little heart was full of Chris- 
tian sympathy. Her father, after reading in the 
Herald the letter with regard to a certain poor 
and afflicted man, remarked he must send him 
five dollars. In a few days Julia pressed the 
matter upon his attention, by urging him to 
let her send five dollars with his. Shortly 
after she asked : 

" Father, have you sent the sick man the 
five dollars V and added : " Father, I have eight 
dollars, please let me send it all." 

When asked the reason, she gave the noble 
Christian answer: "It is more blessed to give 
than to receive." 

Her cousin, still younger than herself, was 
seen to kneel at her bedside, and after a simple, 
but sensible prayer, being asked where she 
learned to pray, she replied : " Julia taught 
me." 



34 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

Dear, lovely little girl, your mission has 
been faithfully performed, and the light of 
your bright, short life shall linger long in the 
family and neighborhood. 



WHAT LITTLE GIRLS CAN DO. 

In the town of Newburyport, Mass., a Juve- 
nile Temperance Society was formed by the 
Sabbath-school teachers. 

One evening some little members of it were 
going home, when they saw a poor intoxicated 
man leaning against a post. One little girl 
went up to him and said : 

a Please, sir, will you sign the pledge f" 

" I haven't got it, or I would," said the con- 
science-stricken man. 

"I have it here, sir," remarked the polite lit- 
tle lady, as she drew a blank pledge from her 
pocket; and she added, speaking to her com- 
panions, "Let us sing." So they formed a 
ring around the unfortunate man, and sung : 

a The drink that's in the drunkard's cup 
Is not the drink for me." 

They sung so sweetly that the poor man stam- 
mered out, "Sing again, little girls, sing again." 



DEATH OF A LITTLE INDIAN GIRL. 35 

Then the little maiden pressed him to sign 
the pledge. 

" Pve no ink and no desk," urged the drunk- 
ard. 

"Please, sir," said the girl, "I've got a pen- 
cil, and if you will lend me your hat, that will 
make a clesk." 

The hat did make a desk, and that drunkard, 
reformed by a child, became an eminent lec- 
turer on temperance. See, then, from this 
brief narrative, how much good even little 
folks may do, if they only set about it in right 
good earnest and persevere therein. 



HAPPY DEATH OF A LITTLE INDIAN GIRL. 

A little Indian girl, who had early chosen 
Christ as her portion, could say, as she drew 
near eternity, " I am willing to die if God sees 
best, though I should like to live to do good to 
my people." 

The day before her death she appeared very 
happy, and often requested her adopted mother 
to sing to her. " I feel," said she, in the 
triumph of hope, " as though I could praise 
and bless God." 

Facts about Girls. 3 



36 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

At another time she said: "I feel happy. 
It seems as though angels were all around me 
in the room and Jesus in the middle;" and 
again she said, " I feel happy. I am not afraid 
to die, for I think that Jesus will be my 
friend." 

Children, give your hearts to God in the 
morning of your days, then you may die as 
happy as did this pious little girl. 



BE TRUTHFUL. 



Two little girl^whom we will name Annie 
and Lucy, once called upon that excellent lady, 
Mrs. Elizabeth Fry. After they had sat a 
while with her, she reached from the sideboard 
a plate of cake, kindly saying to Lucy, 
" Would'st thou like a piece of cake ?" 

Lucy, like many other boys and girls we 
have often seen, gave way to a foolish feeling, 
sometimes called shyness, and although she 
would have liked a piece, said : 

" No, thank you, ma'am." 

The lady then asked Annie, who immediate- 
ly said, "Yes, ma'am, if you please." Mrs. 
Fry gave Annie a piece, and then turning to 



A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE. 37 

Luc\ said: "Would'st thou like a piece 
now f ' 

Lucy, emboldened by Annie's example, said 
she would. 

"Ah, but," was the reply, " thou hast told an 
untruth; thou must not have a piece." 



THE RICH CHILD. 

A little East Indian girl, who had attended 
the mission school at Bellary, said a day or 
two before her death : i; Mother, I am going ; 
God bless you !" Her mother rejoined, "My 
poor child!" She replied: "No, mother, rich, 
rich ; I am going to my Father in heaven." 



A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE. 

At the burning of the Black River Woollen 
Mills, in Watertown, New York, during the 
present summer, (1859) as one of the weavers 
was about escaping from the room in which he 
worked, he heard his little daughter of seven 
years call, " Pa ! pa !" 



38 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

He turned and seized her by the arm, sprang 
to the window just as the floor gave way be- 
neath his feet, and placing the little girl be- 
tween his legs, he thus went down the under 
side of the ladder hand over hand. His left 
arm was burned, but not very severely, and his 
hair and whiskers scorched to his head and face. 
The little girl was uninjured, save a slight burn 
on one of her legs. Truly, this was a wonder- 
ful deliverance. 



" MAMMA, WHAT IS AN INFIDEL 1" 
Hume, the great historian, was once dining 
at the house of an intimate friend. After din- 
ner the ladies withdrew, and in the course of 
conversation Hume made some assertion which 
caused a gentleman present to observe to him : 
" If you can advance such sentiments as those 
you are certainly what the world gives you 
credit of being, an infidel." 

A little girl, whom the philosopher had often 
noticed, and with whom he had become a favor- 
ite, by bringing her little presents of toys and 
sweetmeats, happened to be playing about the 
room unnoticed, and on hearing the above ex- 



"MAMMA, WHAT IS AN INFIDEL?" 39 

pression left the room, went to her mother, 
and asked her : 

" Mamma, what is an infidel V 

"An infidel, my dear," replied the mother, 
" why should you ask such a question ? An 
infidel is so awful a character, that I scarcely 
know how to answer you." 

" O do tell me, mamma," returned the 
child; "I must know what an infidel is." 

Struck with her eagerness, her mother at 
length replied : " An infidel is one who believes 
there is no God, no heaven, no hell, no hereafter." 

Some days after, Hume again visited the 
house of his friend. On being introduced to 
the parlor, he found no one there but his favor- 
ite little girl ; he went to her, and attempted to 
take her up in his arms and kiss her, as he had 
been used to do ; but the child shrunk with 
horror from his touch.. 

" My dear," said he, " what is the matter % 
do I hurt you?" 

" No," she replied, "you do not hurt me, but 
I cannot kiss you." 

" Why not, my dear V* 

" Because you are an infidel." 

" An infidel ! what is that V 

u One who believes there is no God, no 
heaven, no hell, no hereafter." 



40 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

" And are you not very sorry for me, my 
dear ?" asked the astonished philosopher. 

" Yes, indeed, I am sorry," returned the child 
with solemnity ; " and I pray to God for 
you." 

"Do you, indeed'? and what do you say?" 

"I say, O God, teach this man what thou 
art!" 

How such replies affected this false philoso- 
pher we are not informed; but what a beau- 
tiful comment have we here upon the following 
words of holy writ : " Out of the mouth of 
babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, 
because of thine enemies, that thou mightest 
still the enemy and avenger." 



HAPPY DEATH OF ADELIA. 

Adelia A. was the daughter of Mr. Moses 
Barnes, of Brandon, Vermont. She was called 
away by death in the thirteenth year of her 
age, after an illness of four months, which she 
endured with great patience. At an early 
period she manifested a taste for reading, and 
her attachment to books became so strong, as 
often to require restraint. She loved the Sabbath 



HAPPY DEATH OF ADELIA. 41 

school and its instruction, was punctual in her 
attendance and recitations, and was never urg- 
ed to the pleasing task of getting her lessons. 
She also delighted much in the ministrations of 
the Gospel, and always regretted to be detained 
at home on the Sabbath. In about six weeks 
after she was taken ill her situation became 
alarming ; and on being told, agreeably to her 
own request, that she had but a short time to 
live, she did not' appear to be agitated at all, 
but soon began to converse with the family. 
To her sister, aged eight years, she said : 

u Do not mind little things ; you often com- 
plain without cause. I have taken medicine 
for six weeks, and when it sometimes seemed 
that I could not take it I have always thought 
of this passage : " In your patience possess ye 
your souls/' and then I could take it. She 
charged her never to forget that Scripture. 

Her sister voluntary asked forgiveness for 
ever having injured her feelings. 

" O yes," said she, a and I want you should 
forgive me." 

Her mother inquired if she ever thought 
what would become of her soul. She replied : 

" I have had many sleepless nights on that 
account, but I never mentioned it." 

Her father said to her : " You recollect the 



42 FACTS ABOUT GIELS. 

Saviour says : ' Suffer little children to come 
unto me. 5 " 

"Yes," she replied, " and he says too: ' Those 
that seek me early shall find me.'" 

When the little children came around her 
bed she said : "I wish to talk with you, but 
I am so w^eak, I can say but little." 

She then rested a few moments. Her moth- 
er asked her little brother if he did not wish to 
ask her forgiveness, which he did. 

" O yes," said she, " I can forgive you all 
freely. Brother P., I want you should attend 
the Sunday school ; be sure and take your 
brother H. with you as soon as he is old 
enough. Dear little brother," added she, 
" how I love him." 

To her sister, in her sixth year, she said : " I 
want you should go to the Sunday school. Be 
sure to remember and understand the instruct- 
ions, and profit by them. I can remember the 
first lesson I ever learned; it is the first chap- 
ter of John, the first eighteen verses." 

Addressing herself to her mother, she said: 
" I wish very much to divide my things, but 
as it is the Sabbath day I fear it would not be 
right." 

On being told that she might do it, she pro- 
ceeded very deliberately to make a division of 



HAPPY DEATH OF ADELIA. 43 

the principal articles of clothing, giving some- 
thing to each of her brothers and sisters for 
them to keep as a memorial of her. After 
giving directions respecting the disposal of her 
books, making particular request that her " pa- 
per " might be bound and preserved with care, 
she said : " Mother, as the children have got 
Testaments, I give you mine, and when you all 
read for prayers you will remember me." 

After this, to the surprise of her physician 
and friends, she so far recovered as to be able 
to walk and ride a little. While in this state 
of apparent convalescence, she often expressed 
a wish to be able to attend church and her be- 
loved Sabbath school. Appearing at one time 
to be discouraged, she was reminded that many 
prayers were offered in her behalf. 

"You know, mother," she replied, "that 
every prayer does not avail; you know that 
President Bates told us it was the effectual, 
fervent prayer that availeth;" referring to a 
sermon which she heard him preach, just be- 
fore she was taken sick, from these words : 
" The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous 
man availeth much." 

Notwithstanding these flattering indications 
of returning health she soon relapsed, and all 
hope of her recovery vanished. For a week 



44 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

previous to her death she was deprived of 
reason, except at short intervals. At one of 
these, being asked by her father if she was 
afraid to die, she said she was not. When 
asked if she loved the Saviour, she answered, 
" Yes ;" and in reply to the inquiry whether 
she thought the Saviour loved her, she said that 
she did not know ; at another time she said she 
was happy. 

Thus terminated the brief life of a Sabbath- 
school scholar. Would not the youthful 
reader choose that her closing scene should re- 
semble that of Adelia's ? Learn then to prize 
Sabbath school instruction, and every means of 
becoming wise unto salvation. 



A POETIC GIRL. 

The attention of a beautiful little girl was 
called to a rose-bush, on whose topmost stem 
the eldest rose was fading, but below and 
around which three beautiful crimson buds 
were just unfolding their charms. She artlessly 
exclaimed to her brother : 

" See, Willie, these little buds have just awak- 
ened to kiss their mother before she dies. 



"I CANNOT PRAY OF MYSELF." 45 



"I CANNOT PRAY OF MYSELF." 

A girl about to leave the Sunday school to 
go into the country, informed her teacher of the 
fact. When her teacher inquired if she loved 
the Sunday school, her reply was, " Yes, sir." 

It was next inquired, " Jf you could do any 
thing for the school, would you do if?" 

" Yes," she replied, with a beam of pleasure 
on her countenance, " that I would." 

" Well, then," said the teacher, " you can do 
something." 

" What can I do, sir ?\ 

" Why, you can pray to God to bless your 
teachers and school-fellows." 

She answered, " I can't pray." 

" Why not pray ?" 

At this question the scene changed ; the 
smile which appeared a few moments before 
forsook her countenance, and she burst into 
tears. Her reply was : " I cannot pray of my- 
self; the Spirit of God must help me." 

This remark was true; we ought all to feel 
that we need help from God to enable us to 
pray. Let us ask God then to teach us to pray, 
remembering that Jesus says, " Without me 
ye can do nothing." 



46 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 



A BEAUTIFUL REPLY. 

Mr. Hyde, some years ago a missionary in 
Jamaica, relates that a company of strolling 
players endeavored to get up a play at Fal- 
mouth, a small town not far from the English 
harbor. A young lady offered a ticket to a 
little girl belonging to the Sunday school, who 
immediately dropped a curtesy and said : 

"Ma'am, I thank you; but I hope I could 
not disgrace the school so much as to think of 
going to such a place." 



"HE WILL NOT FORSAKE US." 

A poor woman, who had become reduced by 
circumstances, was observed by her little 
daughter, a Sunday-school scholar, one morn- 
ing to be weeping bitterly. 

" Don't cry, mother, don't cry," said the af- 
fectionate child. " I know what it is that 
makes you cry; it is because you have noth- 
ing for us to eat for breakfast. But never 
mind, mother ; God has never let a day pass 
yet without sending us one meal, and I am 
sure he will hot forsake us now." 



DYIXG- FATHER AND LITTLE GIRL. 47 

Scarcely were these words uttered, when a 
neighbor came in to request the assistance of 
the poor woman to do some work ; and in a 
few hours she returned with some food, pur- 
chased with the produce of her labor. While 
the child was pleased with the sight of it, a tear 
of gratitude stole down her cheek as she ex- 
claimed : 

"There, mother, did I not say that God 
would send us one meal to-day? And you 
see he has been a great deal kinder and better 
to us than we expected." 



THE DYING FATHER AND HIS LITTLE GIRL. 

The father of this child was an English sol- 
dier, who had been married to a native Por- 
tuguese woman. They had sent their child for 
instruction to the mission school. 

The man had been for a long time indis- 
posed, and subsequently became seriously con- 
cerned for his soul. He continued a long 
season in a very gloomy state ; but the Lord 
had mercy on him, and gave him to feel that 
he was reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. 
He was no longer reserved, but told to all 



48 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

around him " what a dear Saviour he had 
found." He was very happy, and seemed to 
find pleasure in nothing so much as talking 
about Jesus. Two days before his death he 
rejoiced exceedingly, and seemed u quite on 
the verge of heaven." He called for his chil- 
dren, and said : 

" Your father is going to die ; he has been a 
bad man ; but he is now changed, and is going 
to heaven." 

On the next day, however, he had a severe 
conflict in his mind: his wife was in great 
agony in seeing its effects. She fell on her 
knees, and attempted to pray in English ; but 
not being able to proceed, she spoke in Por- 
tuguese. A poor Caifre, who was attending 
the man, also began to pray. The man con- 
tinued to struggle, but said, " I am not left." 
His daughter, a child of eleven years of age, 
seeing the distress of her father, brought her 
Testament, and hastily turning to some pas- 
sages which she had been taught at school, as 
" Scripture Proofs" to a catechism, read : M Re- 
sist the devil and he will flee from you." "Sa- 
tan hath desired to have you that he may sift 
you as wheat ; but I have prayed for thee that 
thy faith fail not." "The God of peace shall 
bruise Satan under your feet." 



UNCONVERTED MOTHER. 49 

Hearing these divine words he was soon 
after delivered from his fears, and said, " Now 
1 can praise God ;" and, as he departed, lifted 
up his hands in victory. 



THE PIOUS CHILD AND HER UNCONVERTED 
MOTHER. 

Elizabeth entered the Sabbath school with- 
out a knowledge of the alphabet, and contin- 
ued in it until she reached the Bible class, and 
afterward became a teacher. Soon after she 
had learned to read she undertook to instruct 
her mother, and succeeded in her object. The 
mother, now considering all the purposes of 
going to school answered, persecuted her daugh- 
ter for her attachment to it. A Bible had 
been given her which she highly prized. One 
Lord's day morning the mother, perceiving 
her intent on going to school, forced the Bible 
from her hand, threw it across the room, and 
said: "If you go, you shall not have your 
Bible." 

Elizabeth, with much feeling, said : " O 
mother, that precious book ! to use it so !" 

After her departure the mother felt deep 



50 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

conviction for her improper conduct ; she took 
up the Bible and read ; her mind was affected, 
and she did not prevent her daughter from 
taking the Bible in the afternoon. Her con- 
science still upbraided her, and when Elizabeth 
came home she said : " What have you been 
learning, that you make such a fuss about 
school VI Opening the Bible, she read the 
chapter which had been read in her class, con- 
taining the words : " Have I any pleasure that 
the wicked should die, saith the Lord, and not 
that he should turn from his ways and live ?" 
and stated, as far as her memory would allow, 
the observations of her teacher. 

On the following Sabbath her mother said : 
"Elizabeth, I think I shall go with you to 
chapel." 

The girl was delighted, and replied : " If you 
will go, mother, and hear what we hear, I am 
sure it will do you good." 

Her expectation was not disappointed, and 
from that period her mother constantly at- 
tended the house of God, and afforded, in her 
altered, consistent conduct, another proof of 
the value of Sabbath schools. Addressing the 
teacher, above referred to, she said : 

" O madam, if you were the means of 
saving one soul, would it not amply repay al] 



"WHY STRIKE SO HARD?" 51 

your labors % And you have reason to believe 
that you have been the means of saving two." 



"WHY STRIKE SO HARD?" 

A celebrated tutor in Paris was in the 
habit of relating to his pupils, as they stood 
in a half circle before him, anecdotes of illus- 
trious men, and obtaining their opinions re- 
specting them, rewarding those who answered 
well with tickets of merit. On one of those 
occasions he gave an anecdote of Marshal 
Turenne. 

On a fine summer's day, said he, while the 
marshal was leaning out of his window, the 
skirts of his coat hanging off from his body, 
his valet entered the room, and approaching his 
master with a soft step, gave him a violent 
blow with his hand. The pain occasioned by 
it brought the marshal instantly round, when 
he beheld his valet on his knees, imploring his 
forgiveness, saying that he thought it had been 
George, his fellow-servant. The question was 
then put to each of the scholars : " What 
would you have done to the servant had you 
been in the marshal's situation?" 

Facts about Girls. 4 



52 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

A haughty French boy. who stood first. 
said : " Done ! I would have run him through 
with my sword !" 

This reply filled the whole school with sur- 
prise, and the master sentenced the boy to the 
forfeiture of his tickets for his cruel disposition. 
After putting the question to the other chil- 
dren, and receiving different answers, he came 
at leugth to a little English girl about eight 
years of age : " Well, my dear, what would 
you have done on th: ipposing you 

had been Marshal Turem: 

She sedately replied : - ; I should have said. 
1 Suppose it had been George^ why strike sc 
hard V " 

The simplicity and sweetness of this reply 
excited smiles of approbation from the whole 
school, and the master awarded the prize of 
all the forfeitures to this little girl. 



THE DYING MOTHER AND HER TWO DAUGH- 
TERS. 
Says a certain writer : *• At the foot of a 
lofty hill, crowned to the summit with the 
richest verdure, a miserable mud-cabin peeped 



THE DYIjTO mother. 53 

out from among encircling brushwood and 
straggling elms. A streak of smoke rolling 
up through the green trees was the only sign 
that met my eye of its being inhabited. The 
sun was up, and over the deep blue heavens 
the thin clouds lay sleeping. It was at the 
time between sunrise and the full blaze of day. 
A stillness seemed to lie around the spot, and 
I felt an indescribable sensation creep over me 
as I drew near the house of mourning. I 
paused at the entrance. A low, murmuring 
kind of sound stole upon my ear, and again 
all was hushed. I gently opened the door and 
bent myself forward, as if to ascertain unno- 
ticed what was passing within. I saw at the 
first glance that death had been there. The 
apartment on the threshold of which I now 
stood was of the meanest construction ; it was 
without a single piece of furniture that de- 
served the name. In one corner of it a dead 
body lay stretched out, very slightly covered 
with a tattered coat, and a cold kind of hor- 
rible feeling ran through my very soul, and I 
would probably have shrunk away from fur- 
ther investigation if I had not been suddenly 
arrested by a soft, sweet voice, mingled with a 
low groan, somewhat like a death-rattle, that 
seemed to issue from the same apartment. I 



54 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

turned my head around, and beheld a sight 
that chained me, as if by magic, to the spot. 
O it was heart-thrilling to behold! On a 
bundle of straw a woman somewhat in years 
lay apparently in the agonies of death. Near 
her head hung reclining in deep sorrow a 
beautiful little half-naked child. On one side 
a lovely girl about thirteen years of age 
knelt ; a Bible clasped in her thin, slender 
hands, with which she was endeavoring to com- 
fort her dying mother. I instantly recognized 
two of my Sabbath-school children. The meet- 
ing was affecting. They had been without food 
for some days. The mother died next day, in 
the triumph of that faith which her little 
daughters taught her out of the Bible. Tne 
girls grew up to be respectable members of 
society, and one of them has been a teacher in 
a Sabbath school for several years." 



ANN BAYNAKD. 



Ann Baynard, descended from an ancient 
and respectable family, was born at Preston, 
in Lancashire, England, in the year 1672. 
Her parents perceiving her lively genius, 



ANN BAYNARD. 55 

joined with a natural desire for learning, gave 
her a very liberal education, which she im- 
proved to the noblest and best of purposes. 

She was skilled in the Latin and Greek lan- 
guages, in mathematics, and in philosophy. 
Her compositions in Latin displayed uncom- 
mon facility and elegance of expression. She 
had a strong and capacious memory, a com- 
prehensive and exalted mind, still coveting 
more and more knowledge. " In this particu- 
lar alone," she would often say, " it is a sin to 
be contented with a little." 

But with all her genius and her acquire- 
ments, she was free from vanity and affecta- 
tion. With profound humility and prostration 
of mind, she testified with Paul : " I count all 
things but loss, for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." 

She often said that " human learning is of 
little worth unless, as a handmaid, it leads to 
the knowledge of Christ revealed in the Bible 
as our Lord and Saviour." 

" What avails," said she, " Solomon's skill 
in the works of nature if we do not discern 
the God of nature ? Of what advantage is it 
to be versed in astronomy if we never study, 
by our holy practices, to arrive at the blessed 
regions ? Or to be so skilled in arithmetic that 



56 FACTS ABOUT GIELS. 

we can divide and subdivide to the smallest 
fraction, if we do not learn to number our 
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wis- 
dom? Or to understand the diseases of the 
body if we do not know where to find the 
balm of Gilead, the wine and oil of the good 
Samaritan, the Lord Jesus, to pour it into our 
soul?" 



LITTLE SUSAN. 



Little Susan, five years old, of respectable 
parents in one of our Southern states, hearing 
an account read in the family of the mission 
stations and schools, from which she learned 
that money was needed to buy books and em- 
ploy teachers, etc., soon after asked an older 
sister to give her some change. At first her 
request was not regarded ; but when she be- 
came importunate the question was proposed : 
" What do you wish to do with it V 

She replied : " To give my uncle [a vener- 
able minister and friend of missions] to buy 
books to teach the little Indian girls to read." 

Her sister gratified her by giving her a 
piece of money. To try the sincerity of her 



HOW TO CONQUER UNKIJSTDKESS. 57 

disposition, various proposals were afterward 
made to dispose of her treasure in some other 
way, but without avail. Her purpose was 
charity ; and when her uncle came, with a 
countenance beaming with pleasure, she hast- 
ened with it to him for the object which she 
had at heart. 



HOW TO CONQUER UNKINMESS. 

A gentleman who was a member of the 
school committee in the city of Boston some 
years ago, tells the following story in connec- 
tion with a visit he made to one of the schools 
in that city : 

One day I visited one of the primary 
schools. There were about fifty children in it, 
between four and eight years old. 

" Children," said I, " have any of you a 
question to ask to-day V 

" Please tell us," said a little boy, " what is 
meant by ' overcoming evil with good? 

" I am glad," said I, " you have asked that 
question ; for I love to talk to you about peace, 
and show you how to settle all difficulties with- 
out fighting." 



58 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

I went on to show them what the precept 
meant, and how to apply it, and how to carry 
it out. I was trying to think of something to 
make it plain to the children, when the follow- 
ing incident occurred : 

A boy about seven, and his sister about five 
years old, sat near me. As I was talking, 
George doubled up his fist and struck his 
sister on her head, as unkind and cruel brothers 
often do. She was angry in a moment, and 
raised her hand to strike him back. The 
teacher saw her, and said : " Mary, you had 
better kiss your brother." 

Mary dropped her hand, and looked up at 
the teacher, as if she did not fully understand 
her. She had never been taught to return 
good for evil. She thought, if her brother 
struck her, she, of course, must strike him 
back. She had always been taught to act on 
this savage maxim, as most children are. Her 
teacher looked very kindly at her and at 
George, and said again : 

" My dear Mary, you had better kiss your 
brother ; see how angry and unhappy he 
looks !" 

Mary looked at her brother. He looked 
very sullen and wretched. Soon her resent- 
ment was gone, and love for her brother re- 



THE MOTHER ADMONISHED. 59 

turned to her heart. She threw both her arms 
round his neck and kissed him ! The poor boy- 
was wholly unprepared for such a kind return 
for a blow. He could not endure the generous 
affection of his sister. It broke his heart, and 
he burst out crying. The gentle sister took the 
corner of her apron and wiped away his tears, 
and sought to comfort him, by saying with 
most endearing sweetness and generous affec- 
tion : u Don't cry i George, you did not hurt 
me much" 

But he only cried the harder. No wonder. 
It was enough to make any body cry. 

Now, if every little sister would act as this 
little girl did when unkindly treated, we should 
not often be called to witness the sad sight of 
brothers and sisters quarreling with each other a 



THE MOTHER ADMONISHED. 

A lady was one day weeping on account of 
the death of one of her children, when a little 
daughter addressed her as follows : " Mamma, 
is God Almighty dead that you cryl" 
The mother, blushing, said, " No." 
" Mamma, lend me your glove." 



60 FACTS ABOUT GIELS. 

She gave it her, and on requesting it again 
the child said: "Now you have taken the 
glove from me ; shall I cry because you have 
taken your own glove ? And should you cry 
because God has taken away my sister V 



FAMILY PRAYER CONDUCTED BY TWO 
DAUGHTERS. 

A gentleman residing in the western part 
of the state of New York had sent two of his 
daughters to Litchfield to be educated. While 
they were there, it pleased God to visit the 
place with a revival of religion. The news of 
this revival reached the ears of their father, 
who was opposed to religion. He was much 
troubled for his daughters, " apprehensive," to 
use his own words, "lest their minds should 
be affected, and they be frightened into religion." 

Alive, as he thought, to their happiness, and 
determined to allay their fears and quiet their 
distresses, he sent a friend to Litchfield with 
positive orders to bring them home imme- 
diately, that they might not be lost to all hap- 
piness and hope, and consigned to gloom and 
despondency. 



FAMILY PRAYER. 61 

The messenger departed on his errand. But 
they had already chosen Christ for their por- 
tion, and had resolved that, whatever others 
might do. they would serve the Lord. 

They returned home, not overwhelmed, as 
their affectionate father feared, with gloom and 
despondency, but with their hearts glowing 
with gratitude to God. and countenances beam- 
ing with serenity and love. 

Soon after their return they were anxious to 
establish family worship. They affectionately 
requested their father to commence the duty. 
He replied that he saw no use in it. He had 
lived very well fifty years without prayer, and 
he could not be burdened with it now. They 
then asked permission to pray with the family 
themselves. Xot thinking they would have 
confidence to do it. he assented to what they 
requested. 

The duties of the day being ended, and the 
hour for retiring to rest having arrived, the sis- 
ters drew forward to the stand, and placed upon 
it the Bible ; one read a chapter ; they both 
kneeled and the other engaged in prayer. The 
father stood, and while the humble, fervent 
prayer of his daughter was ascending to heaven. 
his knees began to tremble ; he also kneeled, 
and then became prostrate on the floor. God 



62 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

heard their prayer, and directed their father's 
weeping eyes, which had never shed tears of 
penitence before, to the Lamb of God, who 
iaketh away the sin of the world. 

O how happy those girls must have been to 
have thus witnessed the conversion of their 
dear father, and how thankful to God that he 
had made them the honored instruments of 
that conversion! 



" SPEAK TO MY FATHER." 

At the annual meeting of the Sunday School 
Union, held in London in 1824, a clergyman 
remarked : It was pleasing to think that Sun- 
day-school children had become a blessing to 
their parents. A Sunday-school child, who 
had been admonished by her teacher, was so 
struck by the advico given that she said : " O 
go to my home, and speak to my father, who 
gets drunk every day. What you have said 
made me sorry for my sin, and it may make 
him so too." 

The teacher advised her, when she arrived 
home, to speak to her father of what she had 
heard. She did so, and the father burst into 



"A SISTER'S TEARS.'' 63 

tears, and from that time altered his course, 
and afterward made a good husband and a 
good father. 



"A SISTER'S TEARS." 

Some time ago a young man was on exami- 
nation for ordination and installation. In relat- 
ing his Christian experience and call to the min- 
istry, the question was put to him : 

" What first led you to see yourself a sinner, 
and to feel your need of Christ V 

His simple reply was, " A sister's tears." 

He said he had been thoughtless and wicked, 
using the name of God profanely, and giving 
himself up to infidel sentiments. He had a 
pious sister, with whom he would argue on the 
claims of the Christian religion, the genuineness, 
authenticity, and inspiration of the Scriptures, 
and argue her down. But the sister would not 
yield. She was in earnest in seeking the sal- 
vation of her brother. So she brought in her 
minister: but the young man disposed of the 
minister as easily as he did his sister, and came 
off victor. 

At length, on one occasion, he sought an ar- 
gument with his sister; but she was silent; she 



64 FACT? ABOUT GIRLS. 

had nothing to say. At this he only stormed 
the more ; still she made no reply. When he 
spoke ill of her God. her Saviour, her Bible. 
her religion, she kept her lips sealed, hut hurst 
into a flood of tears, "and those tears of my 
sister." said the young minister. " reached my 
heart and melted it. I then saw myself a sin- 
ner and fled to Christ for help.'' In relating 
this he burst into tears, and the congregation 
before him were deeply affected. 



THE LITTLE TEACHER. 
A little girl, taught at the Sunday school, 
was in the habit of reading the Scriptures every 
evening to her mother, who was a Roman 
Catholic. The poor woman, though unable to 
read, was so much affected by the child's prog- 
ress and knowledge of the Scriptures that she 
was led to think for herself; and after much 
anxiety and trouble of mind, she inquired ot 
the clergyman how these things could be. which 
her little daughter had read for her. first from 
the spelling-book, and afterward from the Tes- 
tament. Soon her heart was opened, like that 
of Lydia of old, and she attended unto the 



THE LITTLE PBUfCESS. 65 

things that were spoken, while she heard 
through him the glad tidings of salvation 
through a crucified Saviour. She offered her- 
self to be a member of his Church ; and she is 
now a regular attendant, and has been admitted 
to the communion. This is but one fact among 
many to show that through the instrumen- 
tality of pious children much good may be 
done to others. 



THE LITTLE PRINCESS. 

Whex Queen Charlotte, the wife of George 
III., was once visiting her nursery, a most ami- 
able princess, afterward Duchess of Glouces- 
ter, who was at that time about six years old, 
running up to her with a book in her hand and 
tears in her eyes, said : M Madam, I cannot 
comprehend it.'' 

Her majesty, with true parental affection, 
looked upon the princess, and told her not to be 
alarmed. "What you cannot comprehend to- 
day you may comprehend to-morrow; and 
what you cannot attain to this year you may 
arrive at the next. Do no.t, therefore, be 
frightened with little difficulties, but attend to 



68 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

what you do know, and the rest will come in 
time." 

This is a golden rule, and well worthy 
of our observation. 



"0 MOTHER, I AM TIRED TO DEATH !" 

" O mother, I am tired to death !" said Jane 
Mills, as she threw herself into a chair on her 
return from school. 

" Tired to death !" repeated her mother 
slowly. 

" Yes, mother, I am — almost, I mean," she 
added. 

" No, my daughter, not even almost," said 
Mrs. Mills. 

"Well, at any rate," continued Jane, "I 
would not walk from here to school again to- 
day for anything in the world." 

" O yes you would, my dear," said her 
mother gently. 

" No, mother, I am sure I would not. I am 
certain nothing would tempt me." 

" But I am nearly certain you could be in- 
duced to go without any urging," answered the 
mother. 



"I AM TIEED TO DEATH." 67 

" Well, mother, try me, and see if anything 
could make me willing to go." 

"Suppose," said Mrs. Mills, "I should offer 
to take you to the panorama this afternoon ? I 
expect to visit it." 

"Do you, mother," said Jane, with great 
animation. "May I go? You promised to 
take me when you went." 

" I intended to do so," replied the mother ; 
" but the place where it is exhibited is a very 
long way beyond the school." 

"But I am quite rested now, dear mother," 
said Jane. " I would not fail of going for all 
the world. Why do you smile, mother ?" 

" To think what an inconsistent little daugh- 
ter I have." 

"What do you mean by inconsistent, 
mother V 

" Why, when a little girl says one minute 
that she would not walk a particular distance 
'for any thing in the world, 5 and in the next 
minute says she would not fail of walking still 
farther 'for all the world,' she not only talks 
inconsistently, but foolishly. It is a very bad 
habit to use such expressions. Yesterday, when 
you came home from school, you said you were 
almost frightened out of your life ; and when 
I inquired as to the. cause of your alarm, you 

Facts about Girls. 5 



68 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

said you had met as many as a thousand cross 
dogs on your way home from school. Now, 
my daughter, I wish you to break yourself of 
this bad habit. When you are tired, or hun- 
gry, or frightened, use simply the words that 
express your meaning. For instance, you may 
be tired, or exceedingly tired ; or you may be 
alarmed, or frightened, or terrified. From this 
time let your lips speak the things you mean. 
The Bible says : i Let your yea be yea, and 
your nay, nay ;' and adds that i whatsoever is 
more than these cometh of evil.' Will you try 
to remember what I have been saying, and 
strive to correct this fault, my dear child?*' said 
Mrs. Mills. 

" Yes, dear mother," replied Jane, " for I know 
it is wrong, and I feel ashamed and sorry for it." 
"Well, my dear," added the mother, "im- 
prove. And now you may get ready to go 
with me to the panorama." 



THE LITTLE REPROVER. 

A very profane and profligate sailor, who 
belonged to a vessel lying in the port of New 
York, went one day from his ship to the 
streets bent on folly and wickedness. He met 




THE LOVING SISTER. 



A SISTER'S LOYE. 71 

a pious little girl whose feelings he tried to 
wound by using vile and sinful language. She 
looked him earnestly in the face, warned him 
of his danger, and with a solemn tone told 
him to remember that he must meet her short- 
ly at the bar of God. This unexpected reproof 
greatly affected him. To use his own lan- 
guage : " It was like a broadside, raking him fore 
and aft, and sweeping by the board every sail 
and spar prepared for a wicked cruise." 

Abashed and confounded, he returned to his 
ship. He could not banish from his mind the 
reproof of this little girl. Her look was pres- 
ent to his mind ; and her solemn declaration, 
" You must meet me at the bar of God," deep- 
ly affected his heart. The more he reflected 
upon it the more uncomfortable he felt. In a 
few days his hard heart was subdued, and he 
submitted to the Saviour. He became a con- 
sistent follower of the Lamb. 



A SISTER'S LOYE. 

Says the writer of the following narrative : 
"I was a thoughtless youth, more regardless 
of serious things than even boys in general. 



i 2 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

But I had one tie which bound me to home, 
and restrained me from all outward immorali- 
ties ; this was a peculiar affection for my sister. 
Few brothers and sisters. I think, ever love as 
we did. All our thoughts, feelings, and places 
were shared together, and neither could enjoy 
anything alone. A walk, a book, a ride, a 
concert lost half their charm if Anna was away, 
and she was the first to soothe every rising sor- 
row. When I was seventeen there was a re- 
vival of religion in the Church to which my 
father belonged, and Anna and I occasionally 
attended the evening meetings. I noticed 
Anna was very silent on our return from these ; 
but as I did not care to say anything upon the 
subject, I was content that it should be so. 
Yet there lurked within me an uneasy fear 
that she was becoming more deeply interested 
in religious things than I was. I could not 
bear the idea; it even made me angry to think 
of my bright, lively Anna's becoming a Chris- 
tian; for I was certain it would spoil her to 
me, and destroy our happiness to each other. 
I became more certain that something was 
weighing heavily on her spirits, for instead of 
moving merrily about the house, singing 
snatches of gay songs, her step became slow 
and thoughtful, her eye was downcast, and 



A SISTER'S LOVE, 73 

often tilled with tears. Yet with a cruel self, 
ishness I refrained from asking her what dis- 
turbed her; and once, when I saw her eve 
resting on my face with an expression of in- 
tense interest. I turned away from the beseech- 
ing glance and left the room. 

The next morning I found a little note from 
her on my table. I took it up with a feeling 
of bitterness in my heart, and crushing it thrust 
it into my pocket, determined not to read it, 
so sure did I feel that it contained something 
about my soul's salvation. I was at that time 
a member of the academy, fitting for college, 
and I went to the school-room, endeavoring by 
unusual attention to my books, to forget the 
circumstance altogether. But a sense of injus- 
tice smote me. and in the course of the after- 
noon I drew forth the note intending to read it. 
but determined that it should exert no influence 
over me. I had even planned a reply to it, in 
which I should beg her never to let that subject 
be spoken of between us. And yet my heart 
was so melted by the contents of that little 
note, that before it was finished I was forced to 
bow my head over the desk to conceal my 
tears. It touched the right chord in my -heart. 
She said she had told no one of the new hope 
of heaven which was in her heart, because she 



74 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

must first speak to me as she had always done 
of all other feelings, and that she could not 
fully enjoy it without my sympathy. Yes, she 
was my own trusting, loving Anna still. Be- 
coming a Christian had not made her cold and 
, distant, as I had fancied it would. I had a long ? 
frank conversation with her. From that point 
I date my first religious impressions. To that 
dear sister's love and prayers I owe my soul's 
salvation, so far as any human instrumentality 
is connected with it ; and I need not say that 
she was thenceforth dearer to me than ever. 
Yet, had she remained silent at this point, and 
I had learned the state of her feelings from 
others, a barrier had been raised between us 
which might never have been removed. 



THE LITTLE PRAYING GIRL. 

A little girl in London, about four years 
of age, was one day playing with her compan- 
ions. Taking them by the hand, she led them 
to a shed in the yard, and asked them all to 
kneel down, as she was going to pray to God 
Almighty; "but don't tell my mamma," said 
she, " for she never prays, and would whip me 



THE LITTLE PRAYING GIBL. 75 

if she knew that I did." Instead of keeping the 
secret, one of the girls went directly and told 
the little girl's mother, who was very much 
struck, but at that time took no notice. Some 
time after, on her going within doors, her 
mother asked her what she had been doing in 
the yard. She tried to avoid giving a direct 
answer. The question being repeated, the an- 
swer was the same ; when her mother having 
promised not to be angry with her, and 
pressing the inquiry by very kind words, she 
said : 

" I have been praying to God Almighty." 
" But why do you pray to him V 9 
" Because I know he hears me, and I love to 
pray to him!" 

" But how do you know he hears you?" 
That was a difficult question indeed, but 
mark her reply. Putting her little hand to her 
breast, she said : 

u O I know he does, because there is some- 
thing here that tells me he does !" 

This language pierced her mother's heart, she 
was a stranger to prayer herself, and she wept 
bitterly. " I love them," says the blessed God, 
" that love me ; and they that seek me early 
shall find me." 



76 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 



HAPPY DEATH OF TWO CHILDREN. 

I met with the following in a book nearly 
one hundred years old. It was written by the 
mother of the two little ones here spoken of. 

" My son was remarkably serious and tender- 
hearted from the time he began to speak. 
When he was two years and a half old he was 
taken with the measles. On Sunday morning, 
lying on my lap, he desired to kiss his sister. 
not six years old. A little after he said to 
me, ' I must kiss you too.' 

" I took him up ; he clasped me round the 
neck and kissed me. When he unclasped his 
hands I asked, ' Whither are you going V 

c; He answered, ' To the Lord,' and in a few 
moments died. 

"Nine months after my daughter, then 
about six years of age, fell sick of the small 
pox. One morning she called, with unusual 
earnestness, for her dear mother. I leaped 
out of bed, and as soon as I looked on her 
said: 'My child, you are going to eternity V 

" She said, ' Mother, will you pray for me V 

" She would take no denial till I told her. 
4 1 will do as well as I can.* She was going to 
kneel ; but I dissuaded her from it. as it was 



HAPPY DEATH OF TTVO CHILDKEN. 77 

very cold. After I had prayed, I asked her 
how she did? She gave no answer to this, but 
asked : 

" 'Are these words in the Bible : " Suffer 
little children to come unto me," and forbid 
them not]" ' 

" I said, ' They are ;' upon which she began 
to pray, and then to repeat several verses of a 
hymn. And in this manner she spent some 
hours. Meantime the doctor came in, and 
desired she would drink something. She re- 
plied, * I cannot swallow.' 

" He said, ' Then you must die.' 

" She cheerfully answered, ' I cannot help 
that.' 

"I now withdrew a while, wanting to be 
alone. But she quickly missed me, and asked 
where I was. One said ' She is praying for 
you.' 

"She said, 'It is well.' 

" When I came in, she asked, ' Where have 
you been]' 

" I answered : * Praying for you.' 

"She answered, ' None need pray for my 
life. My sufferings are past; my fight is 
fought; I am going to heaven.' 

"I was astonished and said: 'My child, be- 
fore we go to heaven we must know Christ.' 



78 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

" She answered, c I know Christ. u Behold 
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of 
the world !" ' 

"She spoke no more till she entered into 
the joy of the Lord." 



THE LITTLE BIBLE STUDENT. 

An orphan girl of Edgar county, Illinois, 
was an example of persevering industry. 
"When twelve years old she knew not how to 
read. In a few weeks she learned, and during 
the summer repeated a considerable part of 
one of the Gospels. The energy and activity 
with which she dispatched her daily labor *was 
remarkable. This energy and this activity she 
carried into the study of the Bible. While 
spinning, she fixed the open Bible upon the 
side of the log-cabin, in front of her, and thus 
learned to repeat one verse after another with- 
out stopping her wheel. Many scholars who 
are behindhand with their lessons will do well 
to learn from this little girl, and, like her, to 
be diligent in business, while they are also 
attentive to the study of the Bible. 



FLOWER GIRL, PORTER, ETC. 79 



THE FLOWER GIRL, THE PORTER, AND THE 
TREASURE. 

Says Mr. Thomas H. Bailey : " I was cross- 
ing the Pont Neuf at the moment when a por- 
ter belonging to the Bank of France, pretty 
well tired with the weight he carried, (it was a 
bag containing nine thousand francs in silver,) 
stopped to rest himself by leaning against the 
parapet wall of the bridge ; but at the moment 
he did so his valuable load, either from 
awkwardness or carelessness, slipped out of 
his hands and fell into the Seine, which is very 
deep just in that spot. 

"Never shall I forget his look of despair. 
He made a movement as if to jump over, and 
I believe would have effected his purpose but 
for the presence of mind of a girl, a little deli- 
cate looking thing of about sixteen, a violet-sel- 
ler, who clasped her arms around him and 
cried for help, which in an instant was afforded. 

"Myself and some others siezed him; he 
struggled with us desperately. ' Let me go,' 
he cried. ' I am ruined forever. My wife, 
my children, what will become of you V 

A multitude of voices were raised at once, 
some to console, others to inquire ; but above 



80 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

all were heard the clear and silver tones of the 

little violet girl: 'My friend, have patience; 

you have lost nothing.' 
'" Nothing!' 
" 'No, no ; I tell you no. Let some one run 

for the divers ; there is no doubt they will 

succeed in bringing it up.' 

"'She is right,' resounded from a number of 

voices, and from mine among the rest ; and in 

an instant half a dozen people ran to fetch the 

divers. 

" Those who remained exerted themselves as 

well as they could to solace the poor porter. 
One brought him a small glass of liquor; 
another a little milk; a third some eau do 
Cologne; and four or five presented the grand 
specific — sugar water. The little violet girl 
had been before all the rest in administering a 
cordial ; and perhaps hers was the most effica- 
cious, a glass of pure water, which she held to 
his trembling lips and made him swallow. 
4 Drink,' she cried ; 'drink it up, it will do you 
good.' 

" Whether it was the water, or the kind and 
sympathetic manner with which it was offered, 
that relieved him, I know not; but certainly 
one of the two had its effect, for his looks grew 
less wild; he burst into a passionate fit of 



FLOWER GIRL, PORTER, ETC. 81 

weeping, and by degrees became composed 
enough to make his acknowledgments to the 
spectators who had shown such an interest in 
his misfortune. 

" The divers soon came, and one of them 
descended without loss of time. Never did I 
witness such an intense anxiety as the search 
excited ; if the fate of every one present had 
hung upon the success, they could not have 
manifested a greater interest in it. He soon 
reappeared, bringing up, not the bag of silver, 
but a small iron box. It was instantly broken 
open and found to be full of twenty franc pieces 
in gold ; they were quickly counted and found 
to amount to nearly twelve thousand francs, 
about two thousand two hundred and fifty dol- 
lars. There were three divers, who, overjoyed 
at their good fortune, speedily divided the 
prize among themselves ; and directly after- 
ward another descended in search of the por- 
ter's bag. This time he returned with it in 
triumph. 

"The poor fellow could scarcely speak when 
it was put into his hands. On coming to him- 
self he cried with vehemence : ' Heaven reward 
you ! You know not what good you have done. 
I am the father of five children. I was formerly 
in good circumstances, but a series of misfor- 



82 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

tunes reduced me to the greatest distress. All 
that I had left was an irreproachable character, 
and that procured me my present situation ; I 
have had it but a week. To-day I should, 
without your help, have lost it. My wife, my 
children, would. have been exposed to all the 
horrors of want ; they would have been de- 
prived of a husband and a father. No, never 
could I have survived the ruin I had brought 
upon them ! It is you who have saved us all ; 
heaven will reward you. 5 

" While he thus spoke, he rummaged his pock- 
ets and brought out some francs. 'This is 
all I have; 'tis very little, but tell me where you 
live, and to-morrow — ' 

" ' Not a farthing,' interrupted they with one 
voice; and one of them added : 'Stop a bit; 
let me talk to my comrades.' They stepped 
aside for a moment ; I followed them with my 
eyes, and saw that they listened to their com- 
panion with emotion. ' We are all of a mind,' 
said he, returning with them; 'yes, my friend, 
if you have been the cause of our good fortune, 
it seems to us that we ought to share with 
you what heaven has sent to us through your 
means, and we are going to divide it into four 
equal shares.' 

"The porter would have remonstrated, but 



FLOWER GIRL, PORTER, ETC. 83 

his voice was drowned by the acclamations of 
the spectators. ' Generous fellows !' c Much 
good may it do you V resounded from every 
mouth. There was not one present l>ut seemed 
as happy as if he or she were about to partici- 
pate in the contents of the box. The money 
was divided, and, in spite of his excuse, the por- 
ter was forced to take his share. 

" The generous divers went their way ; the 
crowd began to disperse ; but the porter still 
lingered, and I had the curiosity to remain, in 
order to watch his motions. He approached 
the little violet-girl : ' Ah, my dear I 5 cried 
he, ' what do I owe you ; but for you it had been 
all over with me. My wife, my little ones 
must thank you. 5 

"'Ma foi, it is not worth mentioning, 
..Would you have had me stand by and see you 
drown yourself?' 

"'But your courage, your strength! could 
any one have expected it from so young a 
girl.' 

" ; Ah ! there is no want of strength where 
there is a good will. 5 

" ' And nobody ever had more of that. Give 
me your boquets, my dear; my children are 
so fond of violets, and never have they prized 
any as they will do these. 5 



84 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

" She twisted a bit of thread round six of her 
fairy nosegays, and presented them to him. 
He deposited them carefully in his bosom, and 
slipped something into her hand ; then, without 
waiting to hear the acknowledgments which 
she began to pour forth, took to his heels as if 
his bag had been made of feathers. 

" The girl looked after him with pleasure 
sparkling in her eyes. 'What will you take 
for the rest of your nosegays V said I, going to 
her. 

" ' Whatever you please to give me,' cried 
she with vivacity, ' for that good man's money 
will burn my pocket till I get it home to give 
it to my mother. O how glad will she be to 
have all that, and still more so when she 
knows why it has been given me.' 

" The reader will easily believe that my pur- 
chase was speedily made ; the good girl's purse 
was something the heavier for it, and I had 
the pleasure of thinking I had contributed in a 
small degree to reward the goodness of heart 
which she had so unequivocally displayed. 
She hastened home with her little treasure, 
and I returned to my lodging to put niy violets 
into water, promising myself, as I did so, to be 
a frequent customer to the little nosegay girl 
ofthePontNeuf." 



A LITTLE CHRISTIAN GIRL. 85 



A CURIOUS MACHINE. 

The common watch is said to beat, in ticks, 
17,160 times in an hour. This is 411,840 a 
day, and 150,424,560 a year, allowing the 
year to be 365 days and 6 hours. It is said 
that watches will sometimes work with care 
100 years. In that case, one would beat 
15,042,456,000 times. Is it not surprising that 
it should not beat to pieces in half that time % 
The watch is made of hard metal, but we may 
tell you of something not half so hard as steel 
or brass ; it is not much harder than the flesh 
of your arm, yet it will beat more than 5,000 
times in an hour, 120,000 times a day, and 
43,830,000 times a year. It will sometimes go 
on beating like the watch for 100 years. That 
curious machine is the human heart. 



A LITTLE CHRISTIAN GIRL. 

The following appeared in an Irish periodical 
in 1834 : 

"I visited a female ward in Meath hos- 
pital. A little girl who was there, aged ten 

Facts about Girls. O 



86 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS*. 

years, asked me to read the conversation that 
took place between our blessed Lord and Nico- 
demus, when Jesus said that we must be born 
again before we can enter the kingdom of God. 
I was much struck at hearing her weak voice 
asking me to read such an important passage 
of God's word. I then inquired what she un- 
derstood by being born again 1 

" Sir," said she, " it is to get a new heart." 

" And who, my child, can give you a new 
heart ? Is it man ?" 

" No." 

" Is it angels ?" 

" No ; it is the Spirit of God only that can 
give it," she replied. 

"Now, my child," I inquired, "are you 
afraid of death ?" 

" O no," she replied. 

" Why r 

" The blood of Christ takes the fear of death 
from me." 

" And do you think you will go to heaven 
when you die ?" 

"I do," said she. 

" And what gives you reason to believe 
that ?" 

"I am a sinner," said she, " and Jesus came 
and died on the cross to save me, and I believe 



TRY TO SECURE A GOOD NAME, 87 

that he is my Saviour, and that his blood can 
cleanse me from all my sin." 

" Surely," said I, " you are not such a great 
sinner as these aged people around you V 

" I am," she replied ; l but no matter for that^ 
for if I had never committed a sin, I brought 
a sinful nature into the world, and that must 
be cleansed.' 

She had humbling views of herself, but ex- 
alted views of her Redeemer. She was content 
to be nothing that Jesus might be all in all. 
When asking her how she came to know such 
blessed truths, she replied : " Sir, in a Sabbath 
school, from my teacher." 

The following Wednesday, when I called, 
she was gone to be with Christ, which is far 
better, and nothing but the earthly house of 
her tabernacle was to be seen in the ward. 



TRY TO SECURE A GOOD NAME. 

Solomon says: "A good name is rather to 
be chosen than great riches." Prov. xxii, 11. 
But by a "good name" Solomon does not 
mean Mary, James, Elizabeth*, Thomas, Sarah, 
or William, or any name in particular. What 



88 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

is meant in this passage is a good character. 
A good character or a good reputation is rather 
to be chosen than geat riches. 

I can best illustrate to you the value of a 
good character by telling you of a girl who 
lost the opportunity of securing a comfortable 
home because her character was not good. A 
gentleman and lady wished to find a little girl 
to live with them, and learn to do housework, 
and to take care of children. One day they 
rode forty miles to a city in search of such a 
girl. After making many unsuccessful inqui- 
ries, they at length found a girl who they 
thought appeared very well. They went with 
her from a part of the city where she resided 
to another part, where they had a little busi- 
ness to do, and just as they were about to take 
her into the carriage, to go out of the city on 
their way home, a city gentleman who was ac- 
quainted with them said to them : 

You will not take that girl home to live in 
your family, will you P 1 

They were then informed that she would 
steal. Then the gentleman and lady from the 
country wanted to take her with them, that 
they might teach her to be an honest girl ; but 
they dared not •try the experiment, for they 
had little girls, and they were afraid that this 



ICY HEART TO THE SAVIOUR. 89 

dishonest girl would learn them bad habits, 
so they made her take her little bundle of 
clothes out of the carriage, and she walked 
homeward again, with her head hanging down. 

The gentleman who had disclosed her true 
character knew all about her. for she had lived 
in his family. Xow. if the gentleman had been 
able to say to his country friends : i; Well. I 
am glad that you have found that girl ; she will 
be of good service to you ; she is a good girl, 
I know she is, for she has lived in my family ;*' 
with what a light heart she might have gone 
from the city to her new home 1 

Will not all little girls or boys who may 
read this try so to act that all who know them 
will be disposed to give them a good name? 
Depend upon it, you will find such a name of 
great value in your journey through the world. 



I HAVE GIVEN III HEART TO THE SAVIOUR. 

Some years ago a protracted meeting was 
held in a school-house situated in a small vil- 
lage. Among those who became interested for 
the salvation of their soul was a little girl. 
Her father, who lived near to the school-house. 



90 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

was very much opposed to religion, and hear- 
ing that his little daughter had presented her- 
self for the prayers of Christians, he strictly 
forbade her attending another meeting. This 
gave the little girl much sorrow, and for a 
while she knew not what to do. But at length, 
when the meeting was about half through, she 
slipped out without her father's knowledge, and 
getting through a hole in the back yard fence, 
she made haste for the meeting. It was some 
time before her father missed her ; but when he 
found she had gone he went immediately to 
the meeting, where he found her on her knees, 
with others who were earnestly seeking relig- 
ion. This enraged him so much that he 
walked up to where his child was and took her 
in his arms to carry her from the place. As 
he raised her from her knees she looked 
up with a heavenly smile and said, " It is too 
late now, pa ; I have given my heart to the Sav- 
iour." This sudden and unexpected remark 
from his happy child was too much for the perse- 
cuting father. He fell on his knees, requesting 
the people of God to pray for him too, and 
very soon he also gave his heart to the Saviour. 
That night father and child returned home to- 
gether, happy in God. 



SAD DEATH OF A LITTLE GIRL. 91 



THE LITTLE GIRL'S IMPORTANT QUESTION. 

One clay a little girl, residing in New York, 
thirteen years of age, came to her mother and 
asked : " Can you know whether or not I am a 
Christian by my feelings 1 n 

" My dear," replied the mother, " 1 must 
first know what your feelings are." 

The girl smiled and said : ;i Well, then, you 
know when you have been angry with a per- 
son and it is all made up how happy you feel. 
Now I have been a long time angry with God, 
and it is all made up, and I feel so happy." It 
is my opinion that girl had really become a 
Christian, How is it with you, my little 
reader ] 



SAD DEATH OF A LITTLE GIRL. 

A few months a^o a frightful accident oo 
curred near the village of Friendship, Alle- 
ghany county, on the Xew York and Erie Rail- 
road. A woman named Guildford started with 
a little girl about nine years of age, after lock- 
ing the house, to visit one of her neighbors. 
After proceeding a short distance the mother 



92 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

remembered something she had left behind 
her, and sent the little girl back after it, while 
she walked on. Arrived at the place of desti- 
nation, she waited a long time, but the girl did 
not appear ; and when she returned home she 
found the body of her daughter hanging from 
the window, and dead. It appeared that the 
little girl, unable to effect an entrance by the 
door, had raised the window, and while endeav- 
oring to crawl in it had fallen down, and held 
her fast by the neck until life was extinct. She 
was an only child, always in delicate health, 
and her parents were nearly distracted at her 
death. 



THE TOLLING BELL, OR SUSIE'S FAITH. 

Some years since, when Rev. Mr. Perkins, 
the Persian missionary, was traveling through 
the States with Mar Yohanan, the Nestorian 
bishop, they spent one or two weeks at the 
village of A. S., visiting Rev. Mr. K., a 
college friend of Mr. P's. While there they 
held several meetings, one of which was de- 
voted to the Sabbath-school children, at which 
Mar Yohanan repeated the Lord's Prayer in 



SUSIE'S FAITH. 93 

the Nestorian language, showed the singular 
sort of pen they wrote with, and enumerated 
some of the many blessings which the children 
of a free, country enjoyed which the poor 
Nestorians did not. There were none of the 
children who enjoyed those meetings better 
than did little Susie E. Childs, and it was a 
source of great grief to her if she was pre- 
vented from attending. They were to hold 
their last meeting on "Wednesday afternoon, 
and Susie was xerj anxious to attend, but she 
said nothing about it till the bell began to toll, 
which it usually did fifteen minutes before the 
service commenced. Susie had a step-mother, 
a stern, severe woman, who allowed her ten 
minutes to prepare for church and five for 
school ; if she was not ready at that time she 
had to go without being ready. When the bell 
commenced tolling, Susie went to her mother 
and asked her if she could go to church that 
afternoon. She said " Xo. 5; 

Now Susie stood in great fear of her mother, 
and when she said ;i no " she never thought of 
teasing, but going to her bedroom, she knelt 
down in front of the bed, and laying her head 
on it she wept as if her heart would break. 
When she had any trouble she would always 
go away and pray ; and she often had occasion 



94 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

to do so, for she had great faith in prayer, and 
so she prayed this time, but what do you sup- 
pose she prayed for % Why, that if it was best 
(she always put that in) for her to go to church 
that day the bell would toll till her mother 
would say she might. 

Does not this seem to some of our little 
readers a singular, and even an unreasonable 
prayer % Methinks I hear you say, " Yes ;" and 
so it was, in one sense, for her mother seldom 
retracted her word ; so there was every reason 
to believe that if God answered the little girl's 
prayer he must cause the mother soon to 
change her mind, or the bell must toll a long 
time. But Susie rose from her knees with im- 
plicit faith that if it was best she should at- 
tend the meeting she would go, and she went 
about her duties cheerfully, listening to the 
bell's " ding-dong," and almost trembling for 
fear it would stop before her mother would 
come and tell her she might go. 

The clock struck two, but the bell did not 
stop ; quarter past, " ding-dong " went the bell ; 
half past, " ding-dong ;" quarter of three, " ding- 
dong." Even Susie began to open her eyes in 
astonishment ; what could it mean ? Just then 
her mother came into the room where she was. 
" Well, Susie, I don't see that the bell is going 



SUSIE'S FAITH. 95 

to stop to-day. I don't see into it, but if you 
can get ready before it stops you may go." 

Happy Susie ! she did not wait to be told 
twice, but ran to her room, and kneeling for 
one minute by her bed, returned sincere thanks 
for the privilege. Then hastily dressing, she 
reached the church before the bell had ceased 
tolling. 

That evening a neighbor called, and in the 
course of conversation asked Mrs. Childs if she 
knew the reason of the bell's tolling so long. 
Mrs. Childs did not, but would like to, and the 
woman gave the following story : Mr. H., the 
minister, had appointed the meeting for three 
o'clock, but the sexton understood him for two, 
and so rang the bell for that hour. After toll- 
ing it for about twenty minutes without calling 
the people together, very much to his surprise, 
he saw the minister passing by, and called to 
him, asking the reason for such a singular pro- 
ceeding. * " O, there is nothing the matter," 
said Mr. L., " only you have commenced one 
hour too early." 

" Well, what is to be done now ]" asked the 
sexton, rather dolefully, for it was no easy 
matter to pull the heavy bell for any length of 
time. 

" I do not know, unless you keep on tolling 



96 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

until three, for I cannot commence now ;" and 
the clergyman passed on, and the sexton con- 
tinued his work, "which," remarked the woman, 
" amused those very much who knew the cause, 
and astonished those who did not." 

Mrs. Childs and her visitor laughed heartily 
over the sexton's laborious mistake; but this 
did not shake Susie's faith, for she thought 
God knows and does all good things, and that 
he ordered it to be so. Was Susie right in 
this belief] 



A DANGEROUS SPORT. 

Little girls, and sometimes larger ones, 
grow ambitious at times at the exercise of 
•jumping the rope. More caution is required 
in this practice, for many, by over indulgence 
therein, have inflicted on themselves injuries 
from which' they have never recovered. Many 
have been crippled for life thereby. 

A serious case of this kind occurred, says 
the Poughkeepsie Eagle, in this city. A 
young lady from New York, in a thought- 
less hour, resolved to see how many times 
she could jump the rope without stopping, 
as others had done, and went on till she 




No 687. 

TWO GIRLS WITHOUT THE NEW KEY. 



A NEW KEY. 99 

was exhausted, and sank into absolute helpless- 
ness. As an immediate consequence, she was 
seized with an affection of the heart, and for 
two or three days was in danger of sudden 
death. At the last accounts she had improved 
a little, but is still in imminent danger, and 
her recovery can only be the result of the ut- 
most care, with the aid of a considerable lapse 
of time. 



A NEW KEY. 



" Aunty," said a little girl, " I believe I have 
found a new key to unlock people's hearts, and 
make them so willing ; for you know, Aunty, 
God took my father and mother, and they 
want people to be kind to their poor little 
daughter." 

" What is the key ?" asked Aunty. 

"It is only one little word; guess what." 

But Aunty was no guess er. 

" It is please" said the child ; " Aunty, it is 
please, I asked one of the great girls in school, 
'Please show me my parsing lesson V She says, 
' O yes, 5 and helps me. If I ask, i Sarah, 
please do this for me?' no matter, she'll take 
her hands out of the suds. If I ask Uncle, 



100 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

'Please,' he says, 'Yes, puss, if I can;' and if I 
say, 'Please, Aunty — ' 

" What does Aunty do V asked Aunty 
herself. 

" O, you look and smile just like mother, and 
that is the best of all," cried the little girl, 
throwing her arms around Aunty's neck, with 
a tear in her eye. 

Perhaps other little girls might do well to 
try this key which opens hearts. Try it, girls, 
for it certainly is a wonderful key. 



THE LITTLE TEACHER. 

Mr. Goodell, of Constantinople, mentions 
the case of a little girl, four years old, whom 
he met with in one of the Protestant schools, 
and who, when her turn came, read her verses 
in the New Testament with as much facility as 
the other scholars, the only difficulty being that 
she was too young to speak plain ! Mr. Goodell 
farther learned, to his astonishment, that this 
little girl was the teacher of her mother. This 
mother, having thus learned from her own little 
babe to read the Bible, and having been taught 
also by the Holy Spirit, was about to be re- 
ceived into the Church. 



THE GENEROUS LITTLE GIKL. 101 



THE GENEROUS LITTLE GIRL. 

Some years ago a little girl, six years of 
age, the daughter of Rev. Mr. C, of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, was taken sick with a 
dangerous fever. One morning, being a little 
better during the interval of the fever, she 
heard her father calling to her nurse, a negro 
servant, telling her to go iuto the house, as her 
shoes were too bad to be out on the cold and 
damp ground ; and directing her if she had no 
better shoes to supply herself with a pair 
immediately. 

This little girl had just before her sickness 
received two silver dollars as a reward for her 
diligence at school. On hearing that Cibby, 
her favorite nurse, was without shoes, she called 
to her mother and told her she wanted one of 
her dollars, saying that she wished to give it to 
Cibby to buy shoes. Her mother replied that 
those two dollars were given her to buy a 
waxen doll, and that Cibby should have her 
shoes. " Yes, mother," said the child, " but I 
want to give her her shoes, for the last lesson I 
ever learned in the Sunday school was in the 
Testament, where it is said, 'The King shall 
say to them on the right hand, 1 was an hun- 



102 FACTS ABOUT GIELS. 

gered, and ye fed me; I -was' thirsty, and ye 
gave me drink; I was naked, and ye clothed 
me.' Now I want to give Cibby one of my 
dollars that the ' King ' may say so to me, and 
that will be better than having a doll." It is 
needless to add that the dollar was brought 
and given to Cibby, and with it her shoes were 
purchased; and this dear little girl was com- 
forted with the divine assurance, " Inasmuch as 
ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 



-PIOUS CHILDREN DIE HAPPY. 

Mary Ann Dunham was born in Mont- 
gomery county, N. Y., in February, 1821, but 
when she was six years old she removed with 
her parents to New York city. Soon after 
her arrival in the city she was received as a 
scholar into the female Sabbath school, No. 3, 
.of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday School 
Union, at which she regularly attended until a 
short period before her death. Some time 
previous to her death she manifested considera- 
ble anxiety relative to the salvation of her soul, 
and frequently desired her mother to pray for 



PIOUS CHILDREN DIE HAPPY. 103 

her. She frequently expressed a wish to have 
religion, and proved the sincerity of this desire 
by often retiring to wrestle with that God 
whose name she had been taught to fear and 
reverence while at Sabbath school. About 
this time she went to hear a sermon, which was 
preached particularly to the Sabbath schools, 
from, " Suffer little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom 
of God." This, it appears, was attended with 
a good effect upon her mind, as she was often 
heard to speak of it afterward; and was no 
doubt a means of imparting light to her under- 
standing and comfort to her soul. The teach- 
ers' prayer-meeting was held at her father's ; 
and when they had retired, after the exercises 
had closed, she would express the sweet degree 
of happiness which she felt. Frequently would 
she say to her parents that she had a great de- 
sire to tell her school-fellows how the Lord had 
blessed her, and how happy she felt when she 
prayed unto him, which we think was an evi- 
dent sign that she had become the happy sub- 
ject of his forgiving love. During her illness 
she was visited by the superintendent of the 
school, who tenderly inquired if she did not 
wish to get well to enjoy the company of her 
little brothers and sisters ; to which she placidly 

Farts ftbotit 6irls. 7 



104 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

answered, "No." When asked why, she re- 
plied, witii childlike simplicity : 

" Because I know that I shall go to the good 
place when I die, for I am sure that the Lord 
loves me." 

Thus departed this youthful Christian on the 
first of March, 1828, in the full expectation of 
a happy admittance into the mansions of eter- 
nal blessedness, there to tune her infant voice 
to the melodious strains of praise and hallelu- 
iahs to God. 



SEE HOW A GOOD CHILD CAN DIE. 

Lucy Reynolds was born February 19, 1811, 
and while a mere infant she lost her pious 
mother. Her father was in the habit of setting 
apart a portion of every Sabbath day for in- 
structing his family. These instructions were 
made useful to Lucy. In 1817 she entered 
the " Land of Promise " Sunday school, Hox- 
ton, where she was a pattern of diligence and 
punctual attendance. " For some time before 
her death," says her father, "her Bible was her 
companion at" meals, and her heart seemed 
given up to her Bible, her school, and prayer." 
She was, however, deeply convinced that she 



WAY OF DOING GOOD. 105 

could not enter heaven without being born 
again. This change she sought and found. 
In her last affliction she had constant peace, and 
a good hope through the merits of Christ that 
she should be happy for ever. Her father see- 
ing her dying, said to her : " My dear, you are 
going to your Saviour, and to your mother and 
sister." The thought seemed to revive her, 
and, with a heavenly smile, she answered, 
" Yes." Her father was too much affected to 
say more, and about eight o'clock, on the even- 
ing of July 29, 1820, she breathed out her 
happy spirit, aged nine years and five months. 



THE LITTLE GIBUS WAY OF DOING GOOD. 

There are many good children in the world 
who would like to perform some kind service 
to others if they only knew how to set about 
it. Some time ago I met with the following 
account of how a little girl made herself serv- 
iceable to an afflicted woman. 

"A superintendent once remarked to the 
children of his Sabbath school that they could 
do some good, and be of some service in the 
world. A little girl who heard this remark, 



106 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

on her return from school, after having related 
what the superintendent had said, inquired of 
her mother what good she could do. ' Think, 
my child,' said her mother ; ' can't you think 
of something you can do that will benefit 
others ? " 

The little girl paused, considered a moment, 
and then retired. 

After her return, her mother said to her, 
1 Where have you been, my daughter ?" 

Said the little girl, with a cheerful counte- 
nance and a pleasing smile, as if conscious of 
having done her duty, and accomplished some 
good, ' I have been reading my Testament to 
the poor blind woman."' 

Now if the " poor blind woman" was a 
Christian woman (I hope she was) she would 
be very much pleased and grateful to the little 
girl who had read for her the precious word of 
God. 



"IT IS A PLEASANT THING TO DIE." 

Eliza Cunningham was the niece of Rev. 

John Newton, a pious clergyman of London, 

and died at fifteen years of age. She told her 

physician that she was "truly happy," and 







A SNOW STORM. 



THE LITTLE COMFOKTEE. 109 

added, " If this be dying it is a pleasant thing 
to die." To her uncle she said : u I would not 
change conditions with any person on earth. 
O how gracious is the Lord to me ! O what a 
change is before me ! " To a young female 
friend she said : " See how^ comfortable the Lord 
can make a dying bed." She chose, as the 
text for her funeral sermon : " Blessed are the 
dead that die in the Lord." "That," said she, 
"is my experience." 



THE LITTLE COMFORTER. 

The cold wind whistled and whirled in the 
narrow streets in a perfect tempest of rude- 
ness, defying the protection of cloaks and com- 
forters, and causing the large and small to 
shiver at his keen and searching roughness. 
Little Bettie Moore was standing at the win- 
dow, wrapped to the chin in a large shawl, 
looking out into the street at the passers by. In 
the room behind her burned a large fire, and 
her little brother rolled on the rug before her, 
very happy in the enjoyment of comfortable 
indolence. " O George," said Bettie, " do come ; 
only see this old man buttoned up to the chin, 



110 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

and wrapped up to the eyes, blundering along 
against the wind. Now here comes a young 
lady, trying to walk gracefully, but she cannot 
for pain. See how she stoops forward, as if to 
let the blast drive over her head. Ha ! ha ! n 
" What next, Bettie?" said George; " I am too 
lazy to come and look ; if you will tell me it 
will do just as well." And with this he 
yawned, and stretched his feet toward the 
glowing fire. 

" O George, will you believe it ? a man is 
coming with a coffin in his arms ! There, he 
has placed it on the stone step at the gate, and 
is looking so sad; I'll run down to the door 
and ask him if I can do anything for him;" and 
forgetting the cold, Bettie ran down the stairs, 
and swinging open the front door, rushed out 
to the gate. 

The man glanced upward at her for a moment 
and then dropping his head on the lid of the 
coffin, burst into an agony of tears. Little 
Bettie stooped down and wept also. What a 
scene! The little finely clad child, and the 
rough, half dressed man, weeping together over 
that unvarnished coffin. 

" God bless you, little miss ; sure it must 
be that you are an angel that God has sent to 
feel for the poor and broken-hearted. May the 



THE LITTLE COMFORTER. Ill 

spirit of her that's in the coffin attend you and 
preserve you from all evil," said the man. 

" Is it your little girl ]" asked Betty. 

" Yes !" 

"Well, you can meet her again when you 
die, if you'll be good. Mamma says we'll 
meet our little buried sister in heaven if we 
love God, and tell the truth, and do to others 
as we would have them do to us. O, I'm so 
sorry for you !" she continued, almost choked 
with sobs ; " but you'll try to meet your little 
girl in heaven, won't you ?' 3 

" I will, with God's help," said the man, look- 
ing at the child through his moistened eyes 
with astonishment. " Will you pray for me, 
little lady I" 

" Yes, sir ; I'll pray for you every night be- 
fore I go to bed ; and if you'll come to 

church on Sunday you'll hear our good minis- 
ter pray for you ; he always prays for the sor- 
rowing ones of the earth." 

"God bless you, little darling; I'll go to 

church for your sake ! Good by ! Run 

into the house ; it's cold for the like of you." 
And the man gathered up his child's coffin and 
resumed his journey. Alas ! alas ! for friend- 
less poverty, that must unheeded and alone 
bear its own loved one to the yawning and re- 



112 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

pulsive grave. Yet thank God that there are 
mothers who teach their children how to go to 
heaven ; that there are ministers who never 
forget to pray for the bereaved and afflicted ! 
Yes, thank God that there are children who re- 
member and can repeat the lessons taught them. 

The poor sorrow-stricken man did go to 

church, the minister did pray for him, and he 
finally joined the Church, and died at last in 
the hope of reunion with his lost babe. 



THE HISTORY OF A LIE. 

Bessie Blake was a little girl some six 
years old. One morning as she stood before 
the glass, pinning a large rose upon the bosom 
of her apron, her mother called her to take care 
of the baby a few minutes. Now Bessie 
wanted just then to go out into the garden to 
play, so she attended to her mother's call very 
unwillingly. 

Her mother bade her sit down in her little 
chair, placed the baby carefully in her lap, and 
left the room. The red rose instantly attract- 
ed the little one's attention, and, quick as 
thought, the chubby little fingers grasped it, 



THE HISTORY OF A LIE. 118 

and before Bessie could say, "What are you 
about V the rose was crushed and scattered. 

Bessie was so angry that she struck the 
baby a hard blow. The baby, like all other 
babies, screamed right lustily. The mother, 
hearing the noise, ran to see what the matter 
was. Bessie, to save herself from punishment, 
told her mother that her little brother Bennie, 
who was playing in the room, had struck the 
baby as hard as he could. 

Bennie, although he declared his innocence, 
received the punishment which Bessie so richly 
deserved. Bessie went to school soon after, 
but she could not feel happy. 

That night, as she lay in her trundle-bed, she 
could not sleep for thinking of the dreadful 
wrong she had committed against her brother 
and against God, and she resolved that night to 
tell her mother the next morning. When 
morning came, however, there was a bunch in 
her throat ; she could not make up her mind to 
confess the sin; it did not seem so great as the 
night before. It was not much after all, her 
wicked heart said. As day after day passed, 
Bessie felt the burden less and less, and she 
might have fallen into the same sin again, had 
a temptation presented itself, but for a sad 
event. One morning, when she came home 



114 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

from school, she found Bennie sick with a 
frightful throat distemper. He had been sick 
all the forenoon. He continued to grow 
worse, and the next day he died. 

Poor Bessie ! it seemed as if her heart would 
break. Kind friends tried to comfort her. 
They told her that he was happy ; that he had 
gone to live with the Saviour, who loved little 
children, and that if she was good she would go 
see him, though he could not come again to her. 

"O!" said the child, "I am not crying be- 
cause he has gone to heaven, but because I told 
that lie about him ; because he got the punish- 
ment which belonged to me." For a long time 
she refused to be comforted. 

Several years have passed away. Bessie is 
now a woman, but the remembrance of that 
lie yet stings her soul to the quick. It took 
less than one minute to utter it, but many years , 
have not effaced the sorrow and shame which 
followed it. 



THE LITTLE SWISS GIRL AND HER BIBLE. 

In a Swiss family there was a little girl not 
quite eight years old. Every Sunday, at break- 
fast, the parents gave to each child a small 



THE SWISS GIRL AND HER BIBLE. 115 

loaf of the finest and best sort of bread to eat. 
She always enjoyed her loaf as much as the 
rest ; but she heard at the Sunday school that 
by bringing to her teacher every Sunday a few 
pieces of money, each child might at the end of 
a few weeks obtain a Bible of her own — quite 
her own, and to keep for herself. At once she 
made up her mind to ask her parents not to 
give her the best loaf at breakfast, but allow 
her to eat the common bread, and give the dif- 
ference between the prices of the two loaves to 
her. To this her parents agreed, though not 
without expressing surprise ; and the little girl, 
during nearly four months, went without the 
best bread in order to obtain a Bible of her 
own. 

Many of the little Swiss children not only 
desire to have the Bible, but they love its 
truths. A little tract, written and printed for 
the young, was distributed among them a few 
months ago. Beneath the title was left a space 
in which to insert the name of each child, and 
over this there was printed these words : " The 
Lord bless thee, and keep thee." No sooner 
had one of the little ones received her copy and 
read the words, than she ran to her teacher and 
cried : 

" O miss, look ! it is for me ! yes, it is for 



116 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

me that the words have been placed here : c The 
Lord bless thee.- I shall be blessed! O 
blessed ! what a happiness !" 

It was a word of the blessed volume, which 
st that moment fell on the heart of the little 
£wiss child as a drop of dew from heaven. 



THE LOST DAUGHTER FOUND. 

The Bucyrus Journal says that a man living 
there lost his wife some years ago in Homer, 
New York ; that they had a little girl which 
he gave to a friend, and left the country. He 
was gone ten years and returned, but could find 
no traces of his child. She had two marks by 
which he might know her; one toe was gone, 
and she had a scar on her arm. The father 
gave up his child as lost to him, and finally 
settled down near Bucyrus and married 
again. 

One evening he happened to pass by the 
room in his house occupied by a servant girl, 
who had resided with him for nearly two 
years, at a time when she was about to retire, 
and the door being open he saw her foot. He 
merely glanced at it, and happened to notice 



THE LOST DAUGHTER FOUND. 117 

that the little toe on the right foot was missing. 
He thought nothing of it at the time, but after 
retiring, the thought struck him that it might 
be the daughter he had searched for so long. 
At first he dismissed the thought as improba- 
ble ; but it still forced itself upon him, until 
finally he requested his wife to go to the room 
and ascertain whether or not the marks of a 
scald were upon the right arm. 

She went, and to his great delight announced 
that the mark was there. The father was 
so positive that this was indeed his lost child 
that the girl was awakened, and in the middle 
of the night was questioned as to her origin. 
She could only tell them that she did not know 
her parents ; that her recollections were that she 

had lived with a family in the East named , 

(naming the family she had been left with by 
the "woman originally intrusted with her,) and 
at their death was taken charge of by the over- 
seers of the poor, a place was provided for her, 
and she had come to Bucyrus with a family, 
and had supported herself by doing housework 
since. This tallied so nearly with the already 
ascertained facts in the case, that the next day 
the father started East with her, and visiting 
the different points she had named, ascertained, 
to his great joy, that she was indeed his daugh- 



118 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

ter. She is an extremely beautiful girl, of 
great natural intelligence, and though totally 
uneducated, is still interesting. She was 
taken to Granville, Ohio, to receive an educa- 
tion to fit her for the new station she has as- 
sumed in life. 



MY FIRST LIE. 

Said a lady : u I shall never forgot my first 
lie, although it happened when I was a very lit- 
tle girl. My younger sister had a penny with 
which she wished to buy a fig; and being too ill 
to go down to the store herself, she engaged 
me to go. Accordingly I went. As I was re- 
turning with the fig, nicely done up in a small 
piece of paper, suddenly the thought occurred 
to me that I should like to look at it; so I 
very carefully opened the paper, when the fig 
looked so tempting I thought I could not help 
tasting it a little at one end. I had scarcely 
tasted that bit before I wanted it all, and with- 
out much more thought I ate up the whole fig. 

" When the fig was all gone, and I had noth- 
ing to do but to think, I began to feel very un- 
comfortable; I stood disgraced before myself. 
I thought of running away off somewhere, I 



MY FIKST LIE. 119 

did not know exactly where, but from where I 
should never come back. It was long before 
I reached home, and I went as quickly as I 
could and told my sister I had lost the penny. 
I remember she cried sadly, but I went quickly 
into the garden, and tried to think of some- 
thing else, but in vain ; my guilt stared me 
steadily in the face, and I was wretched. 

"Although it wanted but a few minutes to 
dinner hour, yet it seemed very long to me. 
I was anxious some event might intervene be- 
tween me and the lie I had told. I wandered about 
the garden with a very heavy spirit. I thought 
I would give worlds if it had not happened. 

" When the dinner hour came I was seated in 
my high chair at my father's side. My sister 
soon made her appearance crying, and looking 
very much grieved. My father inquired what the 
matter was. Then my mother stated the story, 
the conclusion of which was that I had lost the 
penny. 

" I never can forget the kind, perfectly unsus- 
pecting confidence with which my father turned 
to me, and with his large blue eyes full in my 
face said : 

" ' Whereabouts did you lose the penny? Per- 
haps we can find it again ] ' 

" Not for a single instant could I brave that 



120 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

tone and that look, but bursting into tears, I 
screamed out : 

" 4 O, I did not lose the penny ; I ate the fig !' 
" The silence of the grave ensued. No one 
spoke. Li an instant I seemed to be placed at 
an immense distance from every member of 
the family. A great gulf yawned between us. 
A sense of loneliness and desolation came over 
me, the impression of which, I presume, will 
go with me for ever. 

" I left the table, and all that afternoon, the 
next day, and during the week, my feelings 
were melancholy in the extreme. But as time 
wore away, and my father and mother, brothers 
and sisters, received me back to their love and 
favor, my spirits recovered their wonted tone. 
The whole left an indelible impression on my 
mind and heart. It convinced m'e that the way 
of transgressors is hard." 



A LITTLE INDIAN GIRL. 
A short time ago, a gentleman resid- 
ing in the interior of the state of Ohio re- 
turned from California, bringing with him a 
little prattling Indian girl, a sweet interesting 



A LITTLE INDIAN GIRL. 121 

creature as ever poured a "well-spring of pleas- 
ure" in a household. It was rumored that 
the mother of the child was an Indian woman 
and the father a white man. How that may 
be we know not ; such, however, was the sup- 
position. The gentleman for some reason did 
not care to have the child reside in his family. 
He took her to Cincinnati and placed her in the 
Orphan Asylum, and promised to call often to 
see her. For a few days the life surrounding 
the child seemed to furnish sufficient entertain- 
ment, but it was soon apprehended that some- 
thing was lacking to satisfy her mind entirely ; 
a void which could only be filled by the pres- 
ence of some one whom she had learned to call 
"papa." She became listless and melancholy, 
and the sports of the children failed to please 
or interest her. Visitors to the asylum petted 
the little " Pocahontas," as she was called, but 
their attentions scarcely ever rallied her spir- 
its. Constantly upon her tongue was the word 
" papa." She grew weary and tired, and grad- 
ually faded like a flower of her own mountains 
in autumn. There was no perceptible disease, 
but a gradual wasting away of her energies. 
The gentleman who left her at the asylum 
had never called to see his little charge, and 
although she was nourished and cared for with 

Facts about Girls. 8 



122 FACTS ABC n GIELS. 

a 1 the tenderness possible. - slowly drot 

Length she tMed, nod with 

fleeting bread -till murmuring the name of 

pa/' as she had frequently done in 



LITTLE BELLA'S FAT, TEXTS. 

•• Mamma." sai i B~ 
- -- -a n_ 
tex.s. :ne ::r rde r„:rodn t \ an:; :r.e :":: 
the middle of the day. and one for the evening, 
and :-::e ::r when I go to ' 
to you ;" 

•• Do. 107 love." rerdied 

" My morning o. said Beda •■ is. ■ Je- 
Christ came into the world be Rave sinners;' 
and my middle of die ay one is. 'Come 
me aU ye do at labor, and are heavy laden. 
I ~d give yon rest;' and my evening one is, 
'Him that eometh unto me I will in no 
oast out:' and :oy : 
'God is love. 5 " 

-'And very good and appropriate they are," 
said her mother ; " for when you say in the 
morning; 'Jesus Christ came to save sinners, 9 
you may trdnn. Wed. I an; a sinner = 



LITTLE BELLA'S FOUR TEXTS. 123 

came to save me ; how I should love him for 
that ! and how I must try to obey him all day ; 
then, by the middle of the day. perhaps you 
have been naughty, and feel very sorry for it, 
or something may have vexed vou. and then 
that verse comes sweetly to your mhid: ; Come 
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest ;* and in the evening, how- 
ever naughty or foolish you may have been, you 
can still remember the promise, ; Him that com- 
eth unto me. I will in no wise cast out ; : and when 
bed time comes, and you look back on all that 
has happened during the day. and how kind God 
has been to you in many ways, you can say, 
with all your heart, ; God is love." : * 

•• Yes. mamma." answered Bella, eagerly, 
; - that's it ! when I say my morning text and 
think Jesus came to save me, I would love 
hirn. and try to obey him ; and in the middle 
of the day I would try to say. - Come unto me,' 
and I will go to Jesus and ask hini to wash 
me in his blood, and then I will feel him taking 
me in his arms, and I will say, I will do every- 
thing mamma wants me to do, and I will be 
good ; and in the evening, when I say, - Him 
that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out, 5 
I will think. Jesus won't say. -Go away! I want 
a better girl than you ;' and at night, when I 



124 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

go to bed I will remember all these things, and 
I will say, ' God is love.' " 



"I'M AFRAID I'VE TOLD A LIE." 

A true girl was Nellie Dawson. This was 

seen in her face, for 

" Thought nor feeling that's not true, 
Ne'er made less beautiful the blue 
Unclouded heaven of her eyes." 

She was accustomed to speak the exact truth, 
for she had been taught to do so. Her parents 
did not rely upon nature to give her sincerity 
any more than to give wheat to their fields, or 
roses to surround their home. Her mother 
did not deem it enough to insure good chil- 
dren to let them alone, and forbear to plant 
evil ; she well knew that good must be planted 
seasonably, and nourished and cherished with 
tender vigilance. 

One day, while Nellie was quite small, she 
came with a sad face to her mother, saying, 
" Mother, I'm afraid I've told a lie." 

" Why do you think so, my dear," asked her 
mother. 

" Because," said she, " when Fanny asked 



" I'M AFKAID I'VE TOLD A LIE." 125 

me if there were any pears under the big tree, 
I told her no ; but when Nora w^ent out to get 
some for tea, I went with her and we found 
two beautiful ones on the ground." 

"They might have fallen after you were 
there." 

" I guess they were there then, for they were 
under the leaves of the currant bush, and I 
shouldn't have seen them if it had not been 
for Nora. Was it not wrong for me to say 
there were none there 1" 

" Yes, it was wrong for you to say certainly 
there were none there. You should have 
said you thought there were none; but it 
was not a lie unless you wished to deceive 
her." 

" I am very glad, then ; but I am sorry to 
make mistakes. I suppose it is not quite right 
to make mistakes, is if?" 

" Not to make them carelessly ; and it is 
very wrong to have a positive habit, a way of 
thinking that we cannot be mistaken." 

Thus with the fear of falsehood as the great- 
est of evils, Nellie's soul became that delight- 
ful spectacle, a mirror of truth ; no crooked, 
indirect, feigning, and affected ways were hers. 
She knew that when she came into the spiritual 
world her lips could not utter what in heart 



126 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

she thought not, and that thought and feeling 
are seen in their true light, and all shams and 
disguises worn here but drag the spirit to the 
abodes of the wretched. 



ONE SIN LEADS TO ANOTHER. 

Some years ago there was a girl named 
Ann Morris, who was much addicted to the 
sin of lying. If she committed a fault she 
tried to conceal it by telling a falsehood. One 
morning Ann took the can, as usual, and went 
to a neighboring farm about half a mile dis- 
tant for some milk. She walked quickly 
there, but on her return she had to pass a 
pond on which some boys and girls were 
amusing themselves by sliding on the ice. 

Ann had always been taught not to play 
when sent on an errand, and her first thought 
was to hasten past them all ; but when she 
reached the place she saw some of her school 
companions, and she stood to see them slide once 
along; only once she thought to herself: then 
it was only once each way ; and as they went 
briskly along one after another, she watched 
them again and again, still persuading herself 



ONE SIN LEADS TO ANOTHER, 127 

that she would only watch them once more. 
At length Fanny Reed called her to join them, 
so she put down her can and ventured on the 
pond. Ann had but little confidence ; she knew 
she was doing wrong. Not being accustomed 
to sliding, poor Ann fell, and hurt herself very 
much. 

Just at this time a boy went along with a 
team of horses, and upset the can, and all the 
milk was lost in the snow. Poor Ann cried 
bitterly. 

" What shall I do," said she ; " mother will 
be angry with me." 

" Tell your mother you fell," said Susan 
Tompkins ; " you did fall, that will be no un- 
truth." 

" So I will," said Ann ; " but if mother asks 
any of you, you must say so too." 

They all promised they would; and Ann 
hastened home, never once reflecting on the 
sin she was going to commit. Her mother 
however was not easily satisfied, and asked 
Ann many questions, where she was, and how 
she fell, so that Ami had to tell a good many 
more lies to conceal the first, and she was 
found out after all. 

A lady who lived near the pond saw the 
whole affair ; and fearing Ann might be much 



128 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

hurt by the fall, called on Mrs. Morris during 
the day to know if she could be useful to her. 
She said she was much surprised to see Ann 
on the pond with such girls, and hoped it would 
be a lesson -to her. This led to an explana- 
tion, when Ann's wicked deed was fully laid 
open. 

Mrs. Morris wept bitterly when she found 
how wicked her little girl had been ; she told 
her how one crime brings on another ; and 
how, by disobeying her parents, she had been 
led into so great a sin. She prayed with her 
and shed many tears ; and besought the Lord, 
for the sake of his dear Son, to pardon the sins 
of her little girl, and put his fear into her 
heart, that she might not sin against him any 
more. Ami and her mother mingled their 
tears together ; and Ann felt that it was a 
blessing indeed to have such a mother. 

Little girls should pray to God to keep them 
from doing wrong : but if thev are overtaken 
in a fault they had better confess it at once, 
and ask pardon for the same, for we see from 
this little narrative how one sin leads to the 
commission of another. 



ORIGIN OF A BEAUTIFUL POEM. 129 



THE POOR MAY GO TO HEAYEN. 
Sarah Henley must have been a bright little 
girl, or at the early age of eleven years she 
would not have been able to silence the lamen- 
tations of her aunt about her poverty by the 
following very beautiful reply : " A man may 
go to heaven without a penny in his purse, but 
not without grace in his heart." 



ORIGIN OP A BEAUTIFUL POEM. 

Clarissa J. Dolson was a beautiful and in- 
teresting girl about ten years of age. For 
about two years she was a pupil in a Sabbath 
school. Religious truths made an early and 
deep impression on her mind. Early in the 
year 1843 the family removed to Goshen, 
New York, and during the summer she was 
seized with scarlet fever, which proved fatal. 
Just before her death, and after she had been 
told that her case was hopeless, she requested 
her mother to transmit a half eagle, $5, which 
had been given her by a kind friend, to be de- 
posited in the missionary box of the Sunday 
school, where she had so often heard the les- 



130' FACTS ABOUT GIRLS, 

m 
sons of wisdom, and toward which she cherished 
a warm attachment. Her request was com- 
plied with, and her dying gift was sent toward 
the education of an Indian child at one of our 
western missionary stations. The interesting 
death-bed scene suggested the following lines : 

Mother ! 1 am dying now, 
I feel an icy chill e'en at my heart ; 

The damp of deatl/is on my brow ; 
Mother, we now must part. 

Mother! how brief the space 
Allotted me among my earthly friends, 

The loved and honored of my race 
On earth ; how soon it ends. 

Mother ! my sight grows dim ; 

The shadows of the grave are closing round ; 
But yet my soul clings fast to Him, 

Death's conqueror crowned. 

Mother ! he died for me ; 

For me, a sinful child, he died ; 
My sins transfixed him to the tree, 

They pierced his bleeding side. 

Mother ! my hope is placed 

On his atoning blood, so freely shed 

For me ; for me death's vale he traced, 
And robbed the grave of dread. 

Mother ! thy child would give 

Some dying tribute to the Saviour's cause ; 
That others too might hear and live. 

Obedient to his laws. 



"I COULD NOT TELL A LIE." 131 

Mother ! this piece of gold, 

The gift of pleasure in the hour of mirth, 
I consecrate : 'tis all I hold 

Of treasure here on earth. 

Mother ! farewell, farewell ; 

The shadows of the* grave are gathering thick ; 
But all is safe ; 'tis well, 'tis well ; 

Come Jesus, Lord, come quick. 



"FATHER, I COULD NOT TELL A LIE." 

In the spring of 1852 a happy state of relig- 
ious revival occurred in many of the Churches 
in Boston. A morning union prayer-meeting 
at eight o'clock was greatly blessed, and many 
of the Churches and Sunday school scholars 
were visited by the descent of the Holy Spirit. 
In one of the schools the teacher asked a 
little girl if her father had family prayer at 
home ; the child was compelled to answer 
"No." 

On going home she said to her father: "My 
teacher asked me if there was family prayer 
at our home, and, father, I could not tell a 
lie." 

That father was a Universalist, but his little 
daughter's appeal reached his heart. He was 
led to serious reflection, and soon publicly 



132 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

united with the people of God. He became a 
home missionary, and his labors were almost 
immediately successful in the hopeful conver- 
sion of three or four of his former associates. 



THE POWER OF LOVE. 

Here is a striking proof of the influential 
power of love to subdue the hardest heart. A 
young female Sunday-school teacher was 
speaking to her class of God and of his kind 
and watchful providence, when she was inter- 
rupted by a little girl, who said : 

" I don't care for God ; 1 don't love him ; I 
don't love Christ, and I don't love you." 

A murmur of disapprobation arose among 
her companions, and they said that they loved 
their teacher, and that they were willing to 
share their bread with her. 

"And would you not do the same?" asked 
the teacher. 

" No," answered the girl. 

"Well," said the teacher with tenderness, 
" I shall be happy to share my bread with you, 
and if you don't love me, I love you, and I 
came a long distance to teach you." 



TOO MUCH FOE THE PKIEST. 133 

The girl could not resist words so tender ; 
she threw herself into the arms of the teacher, 
covering her with tears and kisses. 



THE GIRL WHO WAS TOO MUCH FOR THE 
PRIEST. 

In a rural district in the north of Ireland, a 
little Roman Catholic girl attended a Sunday 
school. She was remarkably attentive to her 
lessons, improved much in reading, and com- 
mitted the Scriptures to memory with great 
ease. At length her diligence and good con- 
duct were rewarded with a Bible, which she re- 
ceived with great joy. She diligently read this 
precious book for her own instruction, and fre- 
quently for that of the other members of the 
family. 

The good effects of this reading were soon 
evident in the whole family. The Roman* 
Catholic priest visited the house, and prohibited 
the reading of the Bible. While the conver- 
sation was going on between the priest and her 
father, our scholar had retired to a small room 
adjoining; but she was very attentive to all 
that was said. She now began to tremble for 



134 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

her dear little Bible, and to secure it, if possi- 
ble, from the power of the priest, she concealed 
it carefully in a corner of the room, and in com- 
pliance with the demand of the priest, her fa- 
ther called her. He fixed his eye on her stern- 
ly, and in a threatening tone demanded why 
she dared to read a book that was forbidden by 
the Church. 

" I did not know the Church had forbidden 
it," replied Ellen; "I never heard the Church 
speak, except you mean the true Church of 
Christ, the people that believe in him and are 
his members. If you mean that, sir, then 
Christ is the head of this Church, and what he 
says I am willing to do ; and if he commands 
me to hear, and read, and study his word, I 
don't think anybody should contradict or oppose 
him. He cares for us, and tells us in his word 
how we are to escape the wrath to come, and 
enter into eternal life; and then how can his 
words injure our souls, especially when he com- 
mands us to read them ?' 

" But, my pert little miss," said the priest, 
with a sneer, "don't you know that these 
words may be perverted, and wrested to your 
own destruction ?" 

" O yes, sir, impostors and deceivers may do 
so; false prophets may do it, for their own ad- 



TOO MUCH FOE THE PEIEST. 135 

vantage : or the unlearned and unstable, that is, 
fickle, unsteady people, that are ignorant of the 
Scriptures, may wrest them ; "but a hum- 
ble, sincere, prayerful reader of them never 
will." 

•• Indeed !"' said the priest, evidently laboring 
to suppress his anger ; " why, you'll mount a 
tub and preach; but in pity I must tell you, 
poor deluded girl, that you are on the high 
road to ruin. "What unheard of impertinence ; 
you presume to preach to me!" 

"Indeed, sir.'" replied the girl mildly, "I 
thought it was no impertinence, nor preaching 
either, to speak the truth respectfully. Be- 
sides. I have said nothing but what I can prove 
from the Scriptures.*' 

" And pray, what can you prove from the 
Scriptures V 

; - 1 can prove,'* replied she, hesitatingly, " I 
can prove that we ought to read the Bible 
without asking leave from men P 1 

M Can you, indeed ? I'd like to see the pass- 
ages that prove it. Can you show them 
to me ?*' 

The poor girl ran immediately for her Bible, 
to find out some passages on the subject. 

•• Give me that book," said the priest, rudely 
snatching it from her hand; and then turning 



136 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

over its leaves in a hurried manner for a mo- 
ment or two, he flung it into the fire. 

The girl screamed, and made an effort to 
save it, but the priest held her back. 

Then turning away with indignation, she ex- 
claimed in a firm and dignified tone : " You 
may burn the Bible, sir, but I tell you, you 
cannot burn its contents out of my heart ; 
neither, thank God ! can you prevent me from 
getting another." 

The priest, as if touched with the noble spirit 
manifested by one so young, and perhaps 
ashamed of such a barbarous act, relented, and 
taking the tongs, he pulled the Bible out of the 
flames, already kindling about it, and cast it on 
the floor. 

The girl seized her treasure, extinguished the 
fire, and felt the companion of her closet not 
less precious because scorched by the fanatical 
rage of the priest. 



THE GIRL WHO LOVED TO WORK. 

A Sunday-school teacher called to see the 
grandmother of one of her scholars, who was 
unwell ; and when rising to take her leave, in 



WHAT GOES TO HEAVEX. 137 

quired after her little pupil. The grandmother 
replied that she was at work, and added that 
she was a dutiful, affectionate, and contented 
child ; and expressed her regret that she could 
not make her more comfortable. At this mo- 
ment the little girl entered the room, and being 
asked by her teacher if she was not tired of 
work, replied : " O no, for you know, teacher, 
that 

; Some think it a hardship to work for their bread, 

Although for their good it was meant ; 
But those who don't work have no right to "be fed, 

And the idle are never content.' " 



WHAT IT IS THAT GOES TO HEAYEN. 

A little girl about seven vears of age was 
taken, with a brother younger than herself, to 
see an aunt who lay dead. On their return 
home the little boy expressed his surprise 
that he had seen his aunt, saying : 

•■ I always thought when people were dead 
that they went to heaven ; but my aunt has not 
gone there, for I have seen her." 

;i Brother," replied his sister, ;i I fear you 
do not understand it; it is not the body that 
goes to heaven, it is the think that goes to 

Facte about Girls. 9 



138 FACTS ABOUT GIBLS. 

heaven. The body remains and is put into 
the grave, where it sleeps till God shall raise 
it up again." 



"LORD TEACH US HOW TO PRAY." 

Those of. you who are familiar with the New 
Testament scriptures need not be informed that 
on one occasion the disciples came to our Sav- 
iour with the above request. Let me tell 
you of a little girl who presented a similar re- 
quest to her pious mother. This little girl's 
name was Mary, and in after years she became 
Mrs. Genotin. While yet quite young, not 
more than seven years of age, Mary gave sat- 
isfactory evidence that she had became truly 
pious. Such was her love for the Bible, that, 
before she was able to write, she would print 
different passages of Scripture on the garden 
wall, or wherever she had liberty to do so, in 
order to impress them more deeply on her 
mind. She manifested a great aversion to the 
sin of lying, and so far from attempting to 
conceal her faults, she would confess them with 
penitential sorrow. When very young she was 
desirous of knowing how to pray, and earn- 
estly entreated her mother to become her 



"THE YOUNG COTTAGEK." 139 

teacher. The pious mother was happy to com- 
ply with such a request, and immediately began 
to teach her dear little girl how to form her 
petitions, and also permitted Mary to be with 
her during her own stated seasons of secret 
prayer. The impressions produced on the 
mind of the child by these solemn exercises 
were never erased. In the subsequent period 
of her life she often mentioned, with feelings 
of gratitude, the peculiar benefit she derived 
from this privilege. 



"THE YOUNG COTTAGER/' 
A very interesting little book, bearing the 
above title, has had a very extensive circula- 
tion ; tens of thousands of copies of it have 
been scattered. It is to be found in nearly all 
our Sabbath-school libraries. We advise any 
little girl who has not read, it to inquire for it 
without delay. The following anecdote is taken 
from these interesting pages : 

Says Rev. Legh Richmond, the author : 
" The next morning I went to Jane's cottage. 
On entering the door, the woman who so fre- 
quently visited her met me and said: 'Per- 
haps, sir, you will not wake her quite yet, for 



140 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

she has dropped asleep, and she seldom 
gets much rest, poor girl/ I went gently up 
stairs ; the child was in a half sitting posture, 
leaning her head upon her left hand, with her 
Bible open before her. She had evidently 
fallen asleep while reading. Her countenance 
was beautifully composed and tranquil. A 
few tears had rolled down her cheeks, and 
(probably unknown to her) had dropped upon 
the page of her book. 

" I approached without waking her and ob- 
served that she had been reading the twenty- 
third chapter of Saint Luke. The finger of her 
left hand lay on her book, pointing to the 
words as if she had been using it to guide her 
eye while she read. I looked at the place and 
was pleased at the apparently casual circum- 
stance of her finger pointing at these words : 
' Lord, remember me when thou comest hi thy 
kingdom." Is this casual or designed ? thought 
I. Either way it is remarkable. But in an- 
other moment I discovered that her finger was 
indeed an index to the thoughts of her breast. 
She half awoke from her dozing state, but not 
sufficiently so to perceive that any person was 
present, and said in a kind of whisper : ' Lord. 
remember me — remember me — remember — 
remember a poor child ; Lord, remember me.' 



AN AFFECTING SCENE. 141 

She then suddenly started, and perceived me 
as she became more fully awake ; a faint blush 
overspread her cheek for a moment and then 
disappeared." I may just inform my youthful 
readers that Jane subsequently died very 
happy, and doubtless went to heaven. 



AN AFFECTING SCENE. 

The following narrative was given by a mis- 
sionary to the West Indies. It relates to the 
times when slaves were held there. Happily, 
the people are slaves no longer in those lovely 
isles. 

Some time since Mr. N. purchased from a 
Guinea ship a company of negroes. These 
were conducted to -his estates, and employed 
in the usual occupations. Finding, however, 
that they were insufficient for all his purposes, 
he soon afterward attended a sale from an- 
other ship, and -purchased a fresh company, 
which were also brought up to the estate. 
When these last arrived, a young girl of the 
company fixed her eye in a moment on one 
nearly of the same age who had been pur- 
chased in the first lot. The latter seemed 



142 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

equally affected, and both stood for a consider- 
able time like statues, absorbed in the deepest 
attention to each other, and exhibiting the most 
expressive gaze that can possibly be conceived. 
At last, as if satisfied with their mutual re- 
cognition, they recovered from their silent as- 
tonishment, and actuated by an involuntary 
impulse, sprang into each other's arms. In this 
affectionate embrace they continued some time, 
kissing and bathing each other with their tears, 
till they were disengaged with a degree of vio- 
lence from their eager grasp. A scene so ex- 
traordinary could not fail to excite attention 
and solicitude. The children had acted from 
the impulse of nature, for it was found on in- 
quiry that they were sisters. 



THE LITTLE GIRL AND FAMILY PRAYER. 

One morning, several years ago, a Mr. M. 
concluded to omit family worship, his time 
being much occupied, and after breakfast seated 
himself by the fire, while several of his chil- 
dren were about hurrying off to school, when 
a little child, about two and a half years old, 
went across the room of her own accord, 



THE GIEL AXD FAMILY PRAYER. 143 

brought a Bible, laid it on her fathers knee, 
and seated herself in her little chair by his 
side without saying a word. 

Mr. M. felt somewhat reproved by this act 
of the child, and at the same moment thought 
within himself, that if an interesting newspaper 
story had been presented, he would have read 
it and his elder children would have waited to 
hear, and that want of time was not the only 
reason why he concluded not to read the Scrip- 
tures with his family ; and he resolved to read 
a chapter and make that answer for the 
present. 

The family being seated, a chapter was read ; 
and the moment the book was closed the little 
girl fell upon her knees, and it may be well 
supposed she was not long alone in that posture. 

Not many mornings after Mr. M. was quite 
unwell, and thought, while at breakfast, he 
should not be able to pray with his family. 

Immediately after rising from the table the 
little girl looked very pleasantly on her father, 
and said: "What are you going to do now, 
papa?" 

" I don't know, my child ; what do you think 
I shall do V' 

-- 1 guess you will read in your Bible," replied 
the little girl. 



144 FACTS ABOUT GIELS. 

" I cannot, my dear ; I am sick." 

" Cannot Caroline read, papa 1 " 

" Yes, my child, she can." 

Caroline read, and the minute she shut the 
Bible the little girl was on her knees again. 

The conclusion at which Mr. M. arrived was, 
that in the first instance his property suffered 
nothing from the hinderance ; and in the latter 
case his sickness was not made worse. 



"WHAT DO YOU CRY FOR, MOTHER V 

Several years ago a pious lady, who had 
lost a promising child, was sitting one day 
with her little daughter, about three years of 
age, by her side, and conversing with her about 
the death of her little brother. She told her 
that God had taken him to heaven, and as she 
spoke she wept. The little girl, after a few 
moments of pensive thought, asked her mother : 

" Was it proper for God to take Henry to 
heaven V 

"Yes," replied the mother. 

" Well, then," said the little questioner, " if 
it was proper for God to take him away, what 
do you cry for, mother ?" 



A TEACHER BROUGHT TO CHRIST. 145 

EVENING ENTERTAINMENT. 

Some time ago I read of a little Sunday-school 
girl who, on being asked what she would have to 
entertain her on the Sabbath evening, when de- 
tained from public worship by stormy weather, 
instantly replied, with a bounding heart and 
smiling countenance, u O the Bible! the Bible! 

Perhaps many of our little readers are not 
aware that the Bible contains the most inter- 
esting and instructive narratives that are to be 
met with in any book that was ever printed. 
Ask your parents or teachers to find you in the 
Bible the story of Moses, of Samuel, Ruth, Jo- 
seph, the Prodigal Son, and numerous others, 
which are to be met with in that blessed book ; 
but especially must you read the account given 
by the evangelists of "the child Jesus." The 
Bible is certainly the most entertaining book, 
either for Sabbath evening or any other evening. 



HOW A TEACHER WAS BROUGHT TO CHRIST. 
An amiable little girl, belonging to a Sun- 
day school in B , after a short illness died. 

Her conduct, both in the school and at home, 
had long been such as to induce the hope that 



146 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

the religious instruction given her had not been 
in vain. Daring her sickness she was not only 
able to manifest resignation and patience under 
suffering, and a willingness to leave the world, 
but such high degrees of peace and joy in be- 
lieving as were truly astonishing and delight- 
ful to the minister and Christian friends who 
visited her. She expressed the liveliest grati- 
tude for the benefits of Sabbath-school instruc- 
tion, and spoke with deep affection of the 
teacher through whose instructions she had been 
led to the Saviour. 

Some months after this little girl had gone 
to heaven to join the millions of children who 
are gathered there, that very teacher applied 
for admission to membership with the Church 
of Christ, and stated that her first experimental 
acquaintance with the saving truths of the Gos- 
pel arose from witnessing their blessed effects 
in the dying consolations of the child whom 
she had herself instructed. What a remarka- 
ble case this, that an unconverted teacher 
should lead a little girl to the Saviour, and 
that, on her dying bed, the same girl should 
be the honored instrument of the conversion 
of that same teacher. What a happy meeting 
the two will have when they see each other at 
the right hand of God ! 



THE HAPPY GIRL. 147 



A GOOD ANSWER. 

Of a certain little girl the inquiry was made : 
« Why do you attend Sunday-school V She 
answered the question in the following very 
appropriate words of Dr. Watts : 

" I have been there, and still would go ; 
"lis like a little heaven below. " 



THE HAPPY GIRL. 

Dear children, would you like to know 
who was the happiest child I ever saw ? Listen 
to me and I will tell you. 

The happiest child I ever saw was a little 
girl I once met with traveling in a railway 
carriage. We were both going on a journey 
to London, and we traveled a great many 
miles together. She was only eight years old, 
and she was quite blind. She had never been 
able to see at all. She had never seen the sun, 
and the stars, and the sky, and the grass, and 
the flowers, and the trees, and the birds, and all 
those pleasant things which you see every day 
of your lives ; but still she was quite happy, 



148 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

She was by herself, poor little thing. She 
had no friend or relation to take care of her on 
the journey, and be good to her ; but she was 
quite contented and happy. When she got 
into the carriage she said : " Tell me how 
many people there are in the carriage; I am 
quite blind and can see nothing'?" A gentle- 
man asked her if she was afraid. " No," said 
she, " I am not frightened ; I have traveled 
before, and I trust in God, and people are 
always good to me." 

But I soon found out the reason why she 
was so happy ; and what do you think it was ? 
She loved Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ 
loved her ; she had sought Jesus, and she had 
found him. 

I began to talk to her about the Bible, and I 
soon saw she knew a great deal about it. She 
went to school where the mistress used to 
read the Bible to her ; and she was a good 
girl, and had remembered what her mistress 
had read. 

Dear children, you cannot think how many 
things in the Bible this poor child knew. I 
only wish that eyery grown up person knew 
as much as she did. But I must try and tell 
you some of them. 

She talked to me about sin; how it first 



THE HAPPY GIRL. 149 

came into the world when Adam and Eve ate 
the forbidden fruit, and it was to be seen 
everywhere now. " O I" said she, "there are 
no really good people. The very best people 
have many sins every day, and I am sure we 
all of us waste a great deal of time if we do 
nothing else wrong. O we are all such sinners, 
there is nobody who has not sinned a great 
many sins." 

And then she talked about Jesus Christ. 
She told me about the agony in the garden of 
Gethsemane ; about his sweating great drops of 
blood ; about the soldiers nailing him to the 
cross ; about the spear piercing his side, and the 
blood and water coming out. " O," said she, 
" how very good of him it was to die for us ! 
and such a cruel death ! How good he was to 
suffer so for our sins !" 

And then she talked about the wicked people. 
She was afraid there were a great many such 
in the world, and it made her very unhappy to 
think how many of her schoolmates behaved 
themselves. "But," she said, "I know the 
reason why they are so wicked ; it is because 
they do not try to be good ; they do not wish to 
be good ; they do not ask Jesus to make them 
good." 

I asked her what part of the Bible she liked 



150 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

best. She told me she liked the history of 
Jesus Christ ; but the three chapters she was 
most fond of were the three last chapters of 
the book of Revelation. I had got a Bible 
with me, and I took it out, and read these 
three chapters to her as we went along. 

When I had done she began to talk about 
heaven. " Think," said she, " how nice it will 
be to be there ! There will be no more sor- 
row, nor crying, nor tears ; and then Jesus 
Christ will be there, for it says, ' The Lamb is 
the light thereof,' and we shall always be with 
him; and besides this, there shall be no need 
of the candle, nor light of the sun." 

Dear children, just think of this poor little 
blind girl. Think of her taking pleasure in 
talking of Jesus Christ. Think of her rejoicing 
in the account of heaven, where there shall be 
no more sorrow nor night. 

I have never seen her since. She went to 
her own home in London, and I do not know 
whether she is still alive or not ; but I hope 
she is, and I have no doubt Jesus Christ has 
taken good care of her. 

Dear children, are you as happy and as 
cheerful as she was ? You are not blind, but 
have eyes, and can run about and see every- 
thing, and go where you like, and read as much 



LITTLE GIRL AND HER UNCLE. 151 

as you please to yourselves. But are you as 
happy as this poor little blind girl 1 

If you wish to be happy in this world, re- 
member my advice to-day. Do as the little 
olind girl did. Love Jesus Christ, and he will 
love you; seek him early and you shall find 
him. Bey. J. C. Rylil 



THE LITTLE GIRL AND HER INFIDEL UNCLE. 

" Uncle Robert " was an educated mam 
He had taken literary degrees, and was well 
read in many other books than those prescribed 
in the college course. But he was an avowed 
infidel. He was familiar with the Bible, and 
also with infidel publications. But he gave his 
decided preference to these latter. He had a 
little niece called Nettie, at that time about 
twelve years of age,, of whom he was very 
fond. Nettie was a little Christian, and it gave 
her much pain to know that her uncle was an 
infidel. 

Said she to him one day : " Uncle, why 
don't you love God ? w 

" I do love my god," he replied. 

" Who is that, uncle P 



152 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

"It is the Beautiful — beautiful objects in 
nature and art." 

" Do you mean the Falls of Niagara and 
the Crystal Palace ?" 

"Well— yes." ' 

" Who made the Falls, under' 

" I don't know, Nettie." 

" If you could see the one that made the 
Falls, uncle, would you love him % n 

"If that could be, I should adore him." 

"I love him, uncle," said the little girl, 
"just as well as if I could see him, and I love 
all who love him. You must read about him 
in my new Bible." 

"I know the Bible, Nettie. It is noth- 
ing but a piece of Jewish mythological his- 
tory." 

" Are there any prophecies in other mytholo- 
gies, uncle ?" 

« Well— no." 

" All the world knows, uncle, that the Bible 
prophecies have been fulfilled, and I should 
like to know if any kind of mythology has ever 
spread all over the world and created love, and 
joy, and peace in people's hearts like the his- 
tory of our Saviour ?" 

To these inquiries Uncle Robert made no 
reply. We sincerely hope that his reflections 



POLITE CHILDREN. 153 

on Nettie's arguments would open the eyes of 
his understanding that he might discover the 
error of his ways. 



POLITE CHILDKEN. 

Politeness in children is always very pleas- 
ant to behold. We like their soft " please," 
their cordial "thank you," and hearty "yes, 
sir." We like to see them pick up mamma's 
glove, hand papa's hat and cane, and jump to 
open the door for half-blind grandma, who is 
feeling with her shaking hands for the knob. 

Youthful politeness is all the more agreeable 
when it is shown to us unexpectedly. We 
look for it in grown people ; but knowing how 
forgetful, careless, and inattentive most chil- 
dren are, we are not surprised, nor do we often 
censure them, if they do not always exhibit 
this most agreeable quality. But when they 
do we always notice it, and remember it with 
pleasure. 

Said a lady : I happened to be traveling a 
short distance one of those freezing days last 
winter, and entered the ladies' room at a depot 
shivering with cold, for in my anxiety to keep 

Facts about Girls. 1 



154 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

baby warm a pin in my shawl had escaped its 
fastening, and I wanted to replace it. But my 
pin ball was in my pocket, filled with toys and 
bon-bons, (we had been to Christmas,) and, 
what with bundled up baby, gloves, and cold 
fingers, was altogether inaccessible. So if bub 
at my side had not got one, I must do as I 
could without it. 

There were only three little girls in the 
room, (perhaps ten years old,) sitting opposite 
us, and as I drew my shawl closely around me, 
and moved a little nearer the glowing anthra- 
cite, thinking of the value of a bit of sharpened 
and headed wire, I saw the little girls passing a 
hand over the front of their dresses, look at 
each other, and shake their heads. The next 
moment one of them stepped across and hand- 
ed me a pin, (she must have taken it from 
a needed place,) saying, in a very sweet 
tone : 

" Here is one, if you please." 

"Thank you, dear," I cordially replied, 
accepting it ; and as she resumed her seat they 
were equally pleased, for the same kindly 
emotion swayed each little heart. 

Now this was a very trifling act ; but when- 
ever I recall the politeness of those little 
strange girls, I think of the beautiful definition 



"TELL ME A STORY." 155 

somebody gives politeness : " True politeness 
consists in doing the kindest thing in the kind- 
est way." 



"TELL ME A STORY." 

. " I should like very much to hear a story," 
said a fickle and thoughtless girl to her teacher. 
"I hate serious instruction; I can't bear preach- 
ing." 

" Listen, then," said the teacher. " A wan- 
derer filled his traveling pouch with savory 
meats and fruits, as his way would lead him 
across a wild desert. During the first few days 
he wandered through the smiling, fertile fields. 
But instead of plucking the fruits which na- 
ture here offered for the refreshment of the 
traveler, he found it more convenient to eat of 
the provisions which he carried with him. He 
soon reached the desert. After journeying on- 
ward for a few days his whole stock of food 
was exhausted. He now began to wail and 
lament, for nowhere sprouted a blade of grass ; 
everything was covered with burning sand. 
After suffering for two long days the torments 
of hunger and thirst, he expired." 



156 FACTS ABOUT GIELS. 

" It was foolish in him," said the girl, " to 
forget that he had to cross the desert." 

" Do you act more wisely I" asked the 
teacher in an earnest tone. " You are setting 
forth on the journey of life, a journey that 
leads to eternity. Now is the time when you 
should seek after knowledge, and collect the 
treasures of wisdom; but the labor affrights 
you, and you prefer to trifle away the spring 
time of your life amid useless and childish 
pleasure. Continue to act thus and you will 
get upon the journey of life, when wisdom 
and virtue fail you, fare like that hapless wan- 
derer." 



"I'M SURE TO BE DISAPPOINTED." 
" O good, good ! O delightful, delightful ! 
Papa and mamma are coming home in the Pa- 
cific ! O how happy, how happy I am !" 
shouted little Bessie as she jumped up and 
down, and ran up stairs and down stairs, telling 
the joyful news to one and another till every 
one in the house was acquainted with it. It 
seemed as though she could not wait the week 
that was to elapse before the expected arrival 
of the steamer, so anxious was she to greet the 



" I'M SUKE TO BE DISAPPOINTED." 157 

dear parents from whom she had for some time 
been separated. 

By the next steamer came a letter which 
caused great grief to little Bessie, and her 
lamentations were as loud and long as her ex- 
pressions of pleasure had been great. 

" O dear, it is too bad ! They could not 
get berths on the Pacific, and they must wait 
for the next steamer. O what a disappoint- 
ment ! everything always happens just so to 
me ; just as I am hoping very much for some- 
thing I am sure to be disappointed!" Bessie 
covered her face with her hands, and the tears 
streamed through her little fingers. 

" Bessie, my girl," said her kind grand- 
mother, " God orders all things, and all that 
he does is right." 

Bessie murmured something behind the little 
hands which covered her face, which sounded 
very like, " Well, he might let my papa and 
mamma come in the Pacific when I want to 
see them so much." 

The steamer in which her parents sailed was 
wafted pleasantly and safely over the seas, and 
in due time little Bessie was clasped in the 
fond arms of her dear parents, but nothing was 
heard of the Pacific. " No tidings of the Pa- 
cific," headed one column of the papers for 



158 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

days and for weeks, and then no more was said 
about it and people gave up thinking about it ; 
all but those whose homes and hearts are deso- 
late, and to whose hearts the very name of the 
Pacific will ever send a pang. 

When little Bessie heard that the noble 
steamer was given up for lost, she said : 
"Mamma, I think God was very good not to 
let you sail in the Pacific." 

M O. you think he was good, do you V* an- 
swered her mother ; ;; I heard of a little girl 
who did not think God was very good when 
she first heard that her parents were not com- 
ing in that vessel."' 

'•Yes, that was I, mamma, but I did not then 
know that the Pacific could be lost."' 

" And would not God have been so good if 
we had sailed in the Pacific and been lost? 
Listen. Bessie. God has a great plan by which 
he governs this world of ours. It was part of 
his plan that we should not come in the Pacific, 
and therefore we found it impossible to get 
berths ; and it was also part of his plan that 
cabers should sail in her, and, so far as we 
know, be lost ; and though we cannot see the 
reason, it is all right. Sometimes he disap- 
points us, and does not let us see the reason 
why he does it. Sometimes, as in our case, 



COALS OF FIRE. 159 

we see how much better -it was for us to be 

disappointed. One blessed assurance we have, 
mv daughter, that 'all things work together 
for good to those who love him. 5 O how 
happy should we be if in all things we could 
learn to trust him. knowing that all he does 
is right, whether our eyes see it or not, or 
whether or not our wishes are granted." 



"HEAPDfG COALS OF FIRE OX HIS HEAD." 
A young girl in South Africa was seized in 
a wood by a savage enemy of her father's, 
who cut off her hands, and then sent her bleed- 
ing home. Many years passed; the poor girl 
recovered from her wounds, and the stumps 
healed. One day there came to her father's 
door a poor, worn out. gray-headed man, who 
asked for alms. The girl knew him at once as 
the cruel man who cut off her hands. She 
went into the hut, ordered a servant to take 
him bread and milk, as much as he would eat, 
and she sat down and watched him eat it. 
When he was through his meal, she dropped 
the covering that had concealed her handless 
wrists from view, and holding them up before 



160 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

him, uttered a sentence, meaning, " I have had 
my revenge !" the very sentence he had uttered 
when he had so cruelly maimed her. The 
man was overwhelmed, deeply humbled, and 
filled with surprise. 4 

Now the secret of this was, that since this 
girl had lost her hands she had become a true 
Christian, and among other Christian duties 
which she had learned to practice was the fol- 
lowing : " If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if 
he thirst, give him drink ; for in so doing thou 
shalt heap coals of fire on his head." 



A WISE ANSWER. 

In West Africa the Church Missionary So- 
ciety of England have a school for poor negro 
children. It is related of a little girl who be- 
longed to that school, that when one of her 
fellow-pupils had beaten her, she was asked : 
"Did you beat her again?" She answered, 
"No; / left it to God." I hope all my little 
readers will follow the example of this poor 
but truly pious little African girl. Never re 
turn a blow for a blow, or an unkind word for 
an unkind word, but always leave it to God 



DEATH OF HARRIET H. 161 



CONVERSION AND DEATH OF HARRIET H. 

In the summer of 1830 there was a revival 

of religion in the Sabbath school to which Har- 
riet H. belonged, and many of the children, it 
was believed, were soundly converted unto 
God. Harriet and an older sister were among 
the number of those who tried to give their 
hearts to the Saviour, but Harriet had many 
fears that she had not met with a real change ; 
she, however, continued to pray, as she ex- 
pressed it, that she might love the Saviour. 

During the winter of 1831 she was afflicted 
with a severe illness. One evening, after dis- 
tressing pains, she was put to sleep in a room 
with her parents. Her sister said to her in 
the morning: "You were so sick you could 
not pray last night, sister." 

"Yes," she said, "I did; when pa and ma 
were in bed, I got up and kneeled by my bed 
and prayed." 

Thus did this girl set an example that would 
reprove many older Christians. She recovered, 
and for some time enjoyed comfortable health. 
The autumn before her last sickness, her father, 
who had never professed to be a Christian, 
became deeply concerned about his soul, but 



162 FACTS ABOUT GIELS. 

had not yet communicated it to any of his 
friends. One Sabbath morning, after he had 
gone to public worship, Harriet came in from 
her retirement weeping, and feeling very anx- 
ious that her father should become a Christian. 
She said : 

" Ma, why don't you pray for pa V 
Her mother then read a chapter with her 
children, and they united in prayer, and Har- 
riet poured out her full soul in prayer to God 
for her dear parent. Nor was her prayer un- 
heard or disregarded; her father soon found 
peace in believing, and joined with his family 
in morning 'and evening prayer. She had 
some time previous commenced learning the 
" verse-a-day," which plan was introduced by 
an agent of the American Sunday School Un- 
ion, in which she was always very punctual. 

About this time she commenced a diary, 
which she continued until her death. In the 
winter a protracted meeting was held in the 
neighborhood, and she manifested great anxiety 
that they should have a good meeting. She 
was much affected herself, would often converse 
with the children at school on the subject of 
religion, and the situation of their souls ; partic- 
ularly the last day of school she exhorted them 
to "flee from the wrath to come." In her 



WHAT THE CHILDEEN SAID. 163 

diary was found the names of several of her 
companions, put down as subjects of special 
prayer. Her mind seemed to be more and 
more occupied with eternal realities. On the 
16th of May she was seized with inflammation 
of the lungs, which soon became dropsy in the 
head, and terminated her life on Sabbath day, 
May 20, 1832, aged ten years and nine months. 
She learned her daily verse until deprived of 
reason. Her disease was so violent as to leave 
no opportunity to ascertain the state of her 
mind in the Immediate prospect of death ; but 
her life and diary gave heartfelt satisfaction 
that she was gone to rest in the bosom of her 
Saviour, whom she learned to love in the 
Sabbath school. 



WHAT THE CHILDREN SAID. 

A little circle of mother and children were 
gathered one Sabbath evening around the fire- 
side. They had been reading the fifth chapter 
of Matthew, those precious words of blessing 
with which our Saviour began his ministry on 
earth. Their breasts were full of tender feeling 
as they silently sat, and each pondered on the 
beatitude sweetest to him or her. 



164 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

" Blessed are they that mourn," thought the 
mother, while tears fell fast on her widow's 
dress, and her heart went up in prayer that 
hers might be that holy mourning which should 
be comforted. 

"'Blessed are the poor in spirit* is what I 
choose," said a blue-eyed girl, nestling close to 
her mother's side, "for I want to be in the 
kingdom of heaven." 

" I would have, 'Blessed are the meek ' for 
my motto," said another, whose brilliant eyes 
were full of spirit ; " it would help me most 
I think." 

" But ' Blessed are the pure in heart ' must 
be best of all, for they shall see the kingdom 
of God," exclaimed a thoughtful looking boy 
of twelve. 

Another, two or three years older, remained 
silent, though his tearful eye and glowing 
cheek showed that he too had a beatitude 
dear to him. " Which do you choose, George ?" 
asked the mother. 

"'Blessed are they which are persecuted for 
righteousness 5 sake,' " he answered, with a quiv- 
ering lip. 

" O George, that cannot be for any of us," 
cried the children; "that was for the martyrs 
who died for Jesus' sake." 



WHAT THE CHILDBED SAID. 165 

"It is sweet to me too," said George 
quietly. 

" Tell us why," said the mother. 

"It is dearest to me," answered the boy, 
" because it seems as if Jesus was saying it to 
me; and, mother, it helps me so when the 
boys at school laugh, and call me the l pious 
boy.' Only yesterday, as I was going to 
school, some of them called after me : ' There's 
the boy that goes to prayer-meeting ;' and then 
they dared me to fight, and called me coward 
because I walked on without speaking ; but O 
mother," and the boy's eyes shone clearly as 
he spoke, " 1 didn't feel their words touch me ; 
I only heard Jesus saying : 4 Blessed are ye 
when men shall revile you.' " 

There was a pause. The tears which filled 
the mother's eyes now were blissful tears. " I 
did not think that there was any persecution 
now," said one of the children at length. 

" It is true, no one is put to death for believ- 
ing in Jesus now," said the mother ; " but few 
can enter the Christian life without meeting it 
in some form. * Much courage is often needed 
to bear being laughed or sneered at for our 
trust in Jesus. This kind of persecution is 
often the first cross the young disciple has to 
bear for his Lord ; and his Lord sweetly cheers 



166 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

him with the glorious words : c Blessed are 
ye when men shall revile you, and persecute 
you, and say all manner of evil against you 
falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding 
glad ; for great is your reward in heaven.' " 

" Mother, shall we sing that hymn I learned 
to-day?" asked George. Permission being 
given, the little circle sang : 

" Shall Jesus bear the cross alone, 
And all the world go free ? 
No, there's a cross for every one, 
And there's a cross for me." 



A CHILD OP LIGHT. 

A poor heathen father brought one day a 
sickly, stupid looking little girl to the house of 
a missionary in New Zealand, and begged him 
to take her into his service. She certainly 
did not look very promising, but the kind mis- 
sionary could not turn her from his door. He 
therefore bade her come in, and gave her a Chris- 
tian name, the name of " Betsey." Good food 
and kind treatment soon improved her looks, 
and it was not many months before she gave a 
most serious hearing to the word of God. 



A CHILD OF LIGHT. 167 

Seeing some converts unite with the Church, 
she was greatly interested, and a few days 
after she came to Miss Davis, the missionary's 
daughter, and said she must give herself to 
God, and begged her to come that evening and 
talk to her and her fellow-servants about the 
love of Christ in dying for them. Betsey soon 
received the Saviour to her heart, and publicly 
professed her faith in him. How happy was 
she ! 

Not long after the poor girl was taken sick. 
No nursing or medicine could cure her, and 
both she and her kind friends saw she must 
die. Was she afraid of death? O no. "I 
am not afraid to die," said Betsey, " because 
Christ died for me. He passed the lonely way 
before me, and he will be with me as I 
enter it." 

" Do you want to get well, Betsey ?" 

" No," said she, " for I should sin again, and 
make God angry with me. When I think of 
my former sins it makes my heart very dark 
and sorrowful ; then I pray, and God hides my 
sins from me, and puts his Spirit into my 
heart, and that makes it light again.' 

One day, when she was suffering much, 
Miss Davis, who sat by her sick bed, said, 
" Your pain is great." 



168 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

" Yes, my pain is great," she answered, " but 
it is nothing to what my Saviour suffered. I 
feel happy ; Christ is waiting at the end of the 
road. I want to go." 

" I am very hungry," she would sometimes 
say. " Read with me, and pray with me." 

Her short, bright course was almost run, 
for every day she seemed to grow in the 
knowledge of heavenly things ; and on a soft 
September evening she seemed to be dying. 
Clasping the hand of her kind friend, she whis- 
pered faintly, "Farewell." 

" Farewell," answered Miss Davis ; " you 
are going to Jesus." 

" Yes," she said ; " I am light, light, light !" 

Soon after she fetched a deep sigh, and the 
redeemed spirit of the Mavri slave girl passed 
into the presence of Him who had ransomed 
her with his own blood, to be "a child of light" 
forever. 



PITY THE POOR. - 
A cold drifting snow-storm had set in in 
the evening, and continued all night, rising al- 
most to wildness and fury. Never perhaps do 
we feel more truly thankful for a shelter and 



PITY THE POOK. 169 

comfort than on nights like this ; curtains are 
drawn down, chinks are stopped up, beds are 
tucked in, and every little precaution for com- 
fort grows in importance. And yet, when 
little Mary Jarvis came down to the sitting- 
room the next morning her rose-bush was frost- 
bitten ; it had been overlooked, and not moved 
from the window-seat. 

" Nobody cared for it," said Mary, the tears 
slowly falling down her cheeks ; " it had no- 
body to care for it." 

She blamed nobody but herself, for it was 
hers, and under her special care and oversight ; 
arid she loved the little bush, or rather she 
thought she did; but "can we love, and yet 
forget ?" thought Mary. " O how well it is 
that the great One who has care of us never 
forgets." 

When her parents came in they felt for her 
loss ; but, as her father bent over the blighted 
bush to look out on the wild drifting clouds 
above, and the eddying snow below, "I am 
afraid," said he, " there were some frost-bitten 
families last night." 

" What, father, did you say V asked the little 
girl, turning her large eyes up to his face. 

" I am afraid there are frost-bitten families 
this morning, Mary," he said. 

Facts about Girls, 1 1 



170 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

She listened, and then turned to her bush, 
and as she saw its desolate and forlorn look, I 
suppose it gave her the idea that a frost-bitten 
family must be a very, very sorry sight in- 
deed. A part of the morning was spent in 
vain attempts to restore the rose ; but its leaves 
and branches were quite dead, and they were 
cut down, and the poor root was taken in its 
little pot to the dark cellar, to wait for warm 
spring weather. 

Mary was very sober that forenoon. After 
dinner, the little girl early left the table, went 
up stairs, and presently came down dressed in 
her hood, cloak, and moccasins. 

" Why Mary!" exclaimed her mother ; " Mary, 
child, where are you going?" 

"I am going out with father to see the 
frost-bitten families," she answered serious- 
ly ; " perhaps they've nobody to take care of 
them." 

" But, my dear child, you will be lost in the 
snow-drifts," said her father. 

" And won't you 'carry me through them, 
father?" she asked, turning a pleading look 
upon him. 

" Indeed I will, Mary," he said ; and while 
she ran for her tippet, a hurried and suppressed 
debate took place between the parents about 



PITY THE POOR. j.71 

her object, and the risk, and propriety of pur- 
suing it. 

" It is madness to think of letting that child 
go to-day," exclaimed the mother ; " a delicate 
child as she is." 

"Let her follow the bent of her wishes," 
said the father ; " perhaps she is heaven-sent." 

The father buttoned on his heavy overcoat, 
and he and his daughter went out together. 
The storm was indeed over, but the wind swept 
the snow roughly into their faces, and almost 
took away Mary's breath as she turned from 
the shoveled sidewalk into a cross street to- 
ward the north. "This way, please," she said, 
when her father took her into his arms to lift 
her through a snow-drift ; " to that bleak house," 
papa ;" and struggling on, for it was no easy 
work for the strong man, he put down his little 
girl on a narrow alley leading to a door of the 
house. The wind had blown the snow from 
the path, and Mary ran along and knocked at 
the door, while the father stood watching with 
no common interest the movements of his child. 

" Bless the Lord!" cried a voice, as the door 
was opened. 

" Are you frost-bitten V asked Mary. 

"Most," answered the voice; "only two 
sticks of wood left." 



172 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

And looking and seeing Mr. Jar vis, a woman 
cried out with a voice choked by thankfulness, 
" Didn't I say so, children ? The overseer of 
the poor has come. The Lord always pro- 
vides." 

Mr. Jar vis stepped forward, and with Mary 
entered the room. The poor woman's husband 
was at sea; sickness had entered the family 
and eat up their little means, almost to the last 
loaf of bread and the last armful of wood, 
when the storm set in. This was nearly gone 
when Mary knocked at the door, and its inmate 
thought the town officers had come to her 
relief. Mr. Jarvis was obliged to confess him- 
self not an overseer; neither would he hitherto 
**have been called a friend of the poor, for he 
seldom thought of them at all, except as a stray 
thought might cross his mind on a cold, stormy 
morning like that. But "a little child had led 
him ;" and Mary, somewhat frightened by the 
scene before her, clung to her father's hand 
while he inquired into the wants of the frost- 
bitten family. 

Their wants were supplied; and if this was 
the father's first visit to the poor it was not his 
last, for he and Mary henceforth often went to 
homes "bereft of comfort and of blessing 
left." 



THE BROKEN SUGAR BOWL. 173 



THE BROKEX SUGAR BOWL. 

"When I was quite young I once acted a 
lie, and my heart is sad whenever I think of it. 
One day when my mother had company she 
took the china sugar-bowl to the kitchen to fill 
it. I stood beside her while she was cutting 
up the large pieces. For a moment she left 
her work. I knew I ought not to do it, but I 
thought I would cut a little ; but as I brought 
down the knife to strike, I hit the handle of the 
sugar-bowl, and down it fell ; and in a moment 
I put the handle into its place, and shoved it 
against the wall, so that it need not fall off. I 
had hardly done so when mother came back. 
O if I had only told her the truth then! but 
something whispered : Don't tell yet ; wait a 
little. 

" Mother went on with her work ; but soon 
a heavy blow jarred the bowl, and down fell 
the handle. If mother had looked into my 
face she would not have said, 'Why, can it be 
that such a jar should break the bowl ? But I 
see I was careless in setting it against the wall.' 

" I was on the point of saying, ' No, mother, 
it was I that was careless ; I did it ;' but some- 
thing said, 'Don't tell it now; it can't be 



174 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

helped ;' so I kept still and acted a lie. I did 
not say I did not do it; but by saying nothing 
I made believe I did not, and I let my mother 
be deceived. I meant a lie. and it is the thought 
we have in the heart God looks at. 

"Not many months after that my mother 
was taken sick. I was sent away from home 
to stay most of the time. When father came 
for me, and told me she would never get well, 
that she must soon die, that lie came up be- 
fore me, and I felt as though my heart would 
break. Now, I thought, I will tell her. But 
when I reached home she was so sick and weak 
she could only see me for a few moments, and 
they hurried me away before I could tell her. 
She died that night. O what bitter tears I 
shed as I looked upon that sweet, cold face, 
and remembered how I had deceived her ! 

"Many years have passed since then; but 
when I go home and see that sugar-bowl still 
without a handle, my sin comes up before me. 
I never think of it but my heart is heavy. I 
hope God has forgiven me, though I can never 
forgive myself. And when I see a child trying 
to deceive, even in sport, only 'making be- 
lieve,' I always want to beg him never to de- 
ceive, never to make believe a lie." 



THE BENEVOLENT LITTLE GIRLS. 175 



THE BENEVOLENT LITTLE GIRLS. 

Lucy and Jane were on their way to school. 
They lived in the country, and the school-house 
was more than a mile from their home. Their 
road lay through a pleasant wood, where the 
, flowers bloomed and the birds sang. In al- 
most every thicket the wild fruit hung in tempt- 
ing clusters. The little girls loitered along in 
the pleasant shade, sometimes singing gayly as 
the birds, at others gathering the fruits and 
flowers along their path. At the sudden turn 
of the road they saw (to them) a strange sight ; 
two colored persons, a man and a woman, seat- 
ed beneath a tree, against which they leaned, 
buried in a profound sleep. They were dressed 
in very poor clothes, and their shoes were worn 
almost off their feet. Each had a small bun- 
dle tied in a cotton handkerchief lying beside 
them. They were strangers ; neither Jane nor 
Lucy had ever seen them before. 

" Who can they be ]" said Jane. 

"I wonder where they came from and 
where they are going." 

"Suppose we ask them," said Lucy; "they 
look tired and hungry." 

The girls approached gently, but the rust- 



176 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

ling of the leaves, lightly as they trod, awak- 
ened the sleepers. They sprang to their feet 
and looked anxiously around. Seeing only the 
two little girls, they asked them if they knew 
where they could get anything to eat. 

" Are you hungry T 9 said Lucy ; " then you 
can take my dinner; I can do very well with- 
out any." 

So saying, both the girls placed their bas- 
kets before the travelers, and told them to take 
all they contained. While, with many thanks, 
they eagerly devoured the food, the little girls 
asked them why they were sitting alone in the 
woods, instead of going to a house for food and 
lodging. 

"Ah, miss," said the man, "we don't know 
any body here, and we don't like to go among 
strangers. You won't tell anybody you saw 
us, will you ?" 

" O no," said Lucy ; " I think I know where 
you came from now, and where you are 
going to." 

" If you will come with us we will show you 
where we live. Father never turns hungry 
people away from his door." 

" No, no, kind little lady," said the woman, 
"we cannot stop now. Got mighty far to 
walk before sundown, and now you gave us 



WHAT LITTLE SAKAH DID. 177 

such a good breakfast we can get along much 
faster." 

Lucy and Jane would gladly have taken the 
fugitives to their home, but they seemed so 
anxious to get forward on their journey that 
they could not persuade them to stop. They 
had traveled several hundred miles from the 
interior of a slave state, and in a few days they 
hoped to be safe from the power of their 
master. Many little girls, like Lucy and Jane, 
give food to the naked and hungry fugitives 
who pass through our midst in their flight from 
worse than Egyptian bondage. If my little 
reader should ever meet with the poor African 
fleeing from bondage I hope she will be kind 
to him. 



WHAT LITTLE SARAH DID. 

Little Sarah loved the Sabbath school ; she 
was constant in her efforts to persuade others 
to go and enjoy its benefits with her, and quite 
a number did she add to the school. The fol- 
lowing were some of the results of her efforts. 

Her father had two apprentices, Leonard and 
Samuel. They were brothers, and had come 
from the country, where they had never had 



178 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

the benefits of the Sabbath school. Sarah was 
anxious to get them to the school; and after 
much persuasion Leonard consented to go for 
once, as he liked the little girl, and was un- 
willing to displease her. 

His ideas of a school were exceedingly 
vague, but he was invited to sit with a Bible 
class, and before the exercises were concluded 
he had become more interested than he thought 
it was possible to be, so that Sarah had but little 
difficulty in persuading him to accompany her 
the next Sabbath. This day the teacher in- 
vited the class to meet him after the afternoon 
service for religious conversation. At this 
meeting the youngest member of the class, 
who had recently found an interest in the Re- 
deemer, gave a relation of his experience. His 
language was so childlike, and his relation of 
the love of Christ so earnest, yet so reverential, 
it affected all present. It was a new language 
to Leonard ; it led him to examine his own sit- 
uation. He became convinced of sin, of the 
need of repentance, and soon he bowed in sub- 
mission at the feet of Jesus, and found joy and 
peace in the Redeemer. 

His efforts were now united with those of 
Sarah's to induce Samuel to attend school ; 
they were at length successful, and with a like 



"PREFERRING OXE ANOTHER." 179 

result, and but a few weeks had elapse^ when 
they stood together, and publicly gave them- 
selves to God and to his Church by a solemn 
covenant. 

All this was accomplished by the efforts of 
one little girl. Two brothers not only gather- 
ed into the Sabbath school, but happily con- 
verted unto God. See, then, what may be done 
by trying to accomplish something. Camiot 
the little girl who reads this persuade some of 
her youthful acquaintance to accompany her to 
Sabbath school ? Try. 



"IN HONOR PREFERRING ONE ANOTHER." 

The reading of the following interesting 
story many years ago gave me much pleasure : 

At one of the anniversaries of a Sabbath 
school in London, two little girls presented 
themselves to receive a prize, one of whom 
had recited one verse more than the other, both 
having learned several thousand verses of 
Scripture. The gentleman who presided in- 
quired : " Ann, couldn't you have learned one 
verse more, and thus have kept up with 
Martha?" 



180 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

"Yes, sir," the blushing girl replied; "but 
I loved Martha, and kept back on purpose" 

" And was there any one of all the verses 
you have learned," again inquired the presi- 
dent, " that taught you this lesson V 

" There was, sir," she answered, blushing 
still more deeply ; " c In honor preferring one 
another.' " 



VISIONS OF A DYING CHILD. 

" I was greatly interested," says Dr. Thomp- 
son, " with a little incident a mother gave me 
the other day." 

A child was dying. Feeling unusual sensa- 
tions, she said : 

" Mamma, what is the matter with me V 9 

" My child, you are dying." 

"Well, what is dying?" 

^To you, dear child, it is going to heaven." 

" Where is heaven ?" 

"It is where God-* is, and Christ, and the 
Holy Ghost, and the angels, and good men 
made perfect." 

"But, mamma, I am not acquainted with 
any one of those, and I don't like to go alone ; 
won't you go with me?" 



THE CHILDKEN AND THE BEAR. 181 

" O Mary, I cannot. God has called you 
only, not me now." 

Turning to her father she asked the same 
questions. Then piteously to each of her 
brothers and sisters she repeated the same in- 
terrogatory, and received the same response, 
she then fell into a gentle slumber, from which 
she awoke in a transport of joy, saying : 

" You need not go with me ; I can go alone. 
I have been there, and grandmamma is there, 
and grandfather is there, and Aunt Martha." 



THE CHILDREN AND THE BEAK. 

A gentleman who has been traveling in 
Siberia tells the following story : 

Two children, one four and the other six 
years old, rambled away from their friends, 
who were haymaking. They had gone from 
one thicket to another gathering fruit, laughing 
and enjoying the fun. At last they came near 
a great bear lying on the grass, and, without 
the slightest apprehensions, went up to him and 
mounted upon his back, which he submitted to 
with the most perfect good-humor. In short, 
both seemed inclined to be pleased with each 



182 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

other ; indeed, the children were delighted with 
their new playfellow. The parents, missing 
the truants, became alarmed, and followed on 
their track. Thev were not long in searching 
out the spot, when to their dismay they found 
one child sitting on the bear's back, and the 
other feeding him with fruit ! They called 
quickly, when the youngsters ran to their friends, 
and Bruin, apparently not liking the interrup- 
tion, went away to the forest. 



THE GENEROUS LITTLE GIRL. 

A short time ago a minister wrote the fol- 
lowing to one of our papers respecting a Sab- 
bath-school girl : 

"In one of the smallest classes sits little Katy 
Bridgens. . . . In the Sunday class she has heard 
that in far-off distant lands strange people dwell, 
who bow down to idols and know not of heaven. 
And yet, but five years old, O how can I, she 
thinks, these wretched souls assist ? Musing on 
thoughts like these, she remembers that her 
bank has received large deposits during the 
holidays just passed, and resolves to devote 
her little all to the missionary work. 



THE DYING GIRL. 183 

" In the name of our good little Kate, then, 
Mr. Editor, we beg to hand you now her yearly 
savings, $3 40. Invest for heathen girls, and 
fear not for our treasury while Methodism 
boasts that in her Sabbath schools such loving 
hearts are found." 



THE DYING GIRL AND HER GRANDMOTHER. 

Rosina, an orphan child at a Moravian mis- 
sionary station, in North America, being under 
the care of an old relation, said the night 
before her death : 

"Dear grandmother, I am baptized and 
cleansed in our Saviour's blood, and shall soon 
now go to him ; but I beg you to seek to be 
likewise washed, and saved from your sins, by 
the blood of Christ, that you may become as 
happy as I am ; if you do not, when you die 
you cannot go to heaven. 5 .' 

These words of the dying girl made such 
an impression upon the heart of the aged 
woman that she became deeply concerned 
about her salvation. She prayed for and ob- 
tained the pardon of her sins, became a Chris- 
tian, and united with the Church. 



184 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 



"THOU KNOWEST THAT I LOYE THEE." 

In one of the general associations held in 
South and North Wales, of different Sunday 
schools to be catechised together, a young girl 
answered the close questions put by our Sav- 
iour to Peter : " Lovest thou me V When 
she came to answer the third time, she was 
overcome by her feelings, and burst into tears, 
in which she was accompanied by the larger 
part of the congregation. Silence continued 
for a few minutes, all the people solemnly 
waiting for her reply, when, recovering herself, 
she cried out : " Thou knowest all things ; 
thou knowest that I love thee." 

Can my little reader say thus, and say it 
from her heart, feeling that in thus saying she 
speaks the truth? For be assured that only 
they who love the Saviour here, can dwell with 
him in heaven. 



THE LITTLE GIRL'S HEART. 

The following dialogue is said to have oc- 
curred one day between a pious father and little 
daughter : 






















LITTLE GIRL AXD HER FATHER 



THE LITTLE GIRL'S HEART. 187 

"Pa," said Maria suddenly one day, after 
she had been thinking some time, "pa, what 
does heart mean % When you talk about my 
heart I can't think of anything but those gin- 
gerbread hearts that we eat." 

" You, know, dear that your heart is not any- 
thing that you can see." 

" O yes, pa, I know that ; I know my heart 
is not like those, but I want to know what it 
is like." 

" You know there is something within you 
that loves and hates ; this something is your 
heart. So when God says, 'Give me your 
heart,' he means, l love me.' " 

"Pa, it seems as if I wanted to love God, but 
1 don't know how." 

" You know how to love me, don't you ¥* 

" O yes, papa." 

" But I never told you how to love me." 

" O, but that is very different." 

"Different? how?" 

" Why, pa, I see you, and know all about 
you, and you love me." 

" Do you love anybody that you have never 
seen, Maria?" 

" I don't know, papa ; yes, to be sure, I love 
grandpa, and Uncle George, and Aunt Caroline. 
But then I have heard you talk about them. 

Facte about GUtla 1 % 



188 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

papa, and I know that you love them, and they 
have sent me presents." 

" So I have talked to you about God, and you 
know that I love him, and he has made you 
more presents than everybody else in the 
world. Besides, you love people sometimes 
that have never given you. anything, and whom 
none of us have ever seen. Don't you re- 
member little Henry and his Bearer?" 

"Yes, papa, I love little Henry, I am 
sure." 

"You see then it is possible to love the 
character of people whom you have never seen. 
JNTow the character of God is infinitely lovely. 
He deserves to be loved more than all other 
beings together, and if you love those who 
have been kind to you, think only what God 
has done for you. He gave you your parents 
when you could not take care of yourself ; he 
has given you food and clothing, and health 
and friends ; he has watched over you by night 
and by day, and when you were sick he has 
made you well ; and now when he comes to 
you after all this, and says, ' My daughter, give 
me thine heart?' you say, 'No, I can't; I don't 
know how ; I can love my father and mother, 
and brothers and sisters, but I cannot love 
God, who gave them all to me." 



OVERCOMING EVIL WITH GOOD. 189 

"0 papa. I will, I do love him," replied 
Maria, with fervor. 

<; Perhaps you think so now, Maria." 

"01 shall always love him, I know I shall !" 

Her father smiled. 

; * Papa, you cannot see into my heart ; how 
do you know that I do not love God ?" 

How is it with the girl or boy who reads 
this story ; do they love God ? Let them look 
into their heart and see if the love of God is 
there. 



OVERCOMING EVIL WITH GOOD. 

Some time ago I heard of a little girl who 
was much in the habit of reading her Bible, 
and from the following little act related con- 
cerning her I am disposed to think that she 
understood some things she read in that good 
book. 

One day she came to her mother, much 
pleased, to show her some fruit which had been 
given her. The mother said the friend who 
had given it was very kind. 

" Yes," said the little girl, " very, indeed, 
and she gave me more than these, but I have 
given some away." 



190 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

Her mother inquired to whom she had given 
them, when she answered: "I gave them to a 
girl who pushed me off the path and makes 
faces at me." 

On being asked why she gave them to her, 
she replied : " Because I thought it would 
make her know that I wished to be kind to her, 
and she will not perhaps be rude and unkind 
to me again." 

Perhaps this little girl in reading her Bible 
had read : " Be not overcome of evil, but over- 
come evil with good." 



THE GIRL WHO LOYED JESUS. 

The following is related by a Christian mis- 
sionary, Rev. Mr. Schmelen. 

I have observed a little girl in my house 
about eight years of age, with a book in her 
hand, very accurately instructing another girl 
about fourteen years of age. When I asked 
her if she loved the Lord Jesus she answered : 

"Yes, I do; and I desire to love him 
more." 

I inquired why she loved him, since she had 
never seen him. She answered : " He loved me 



WHY A LITTLE GIRL PRAYED. 191 

first, and died for me on the cross, that I might 
live." 

When I asked her if the Lord Jesus would 
love the little children, she could not answer 
for weeping, and at length fainted away. I 
had frequently observed this child under deep 
impression at our meetings. She descended 
from a wild Bushman, and was stolen from her 
country and people, but has no desire now to 
return. 



WHY A LITTLE GIRL PRAYED. 

A little girl about four years of age was 
observed to have commenced the practice of 
praying alone. One day a friend inquired of 
her, " Why do you pray to God ?" 

She replied : " Because I know he hears me, 
and I love to pray to him." 

"But how do you know he hears you?" 
it was inquired. Putting her little hand 
on her heart, she said : "I know he does, 
because there is something here that tells 
me so." 

Another little girl who attended Sabbath 
school one day said to the superintendent : 



192 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

"When we kneel down in the school -room to 
pray, it seems as if my heart talked." 

This is something like what the poet meant 
when he said : 

"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 

Uttered or unexpressed ; 
The motion of a hidden fire, 

That trembles in the breast." 



THE PROFANE SWEARER REFORMED BY HIS 
DAUGHTER. 
Some years ago the Rev. Solomon Carpen- 
ter held a religious meeting at the residence of 
a man addicted to profane swearing, residing 
in Essex county, Mass. During the service 
Mr. Carpenter, among other sins which he 
reproved, spoke strongly against that of swear- 
ing. At the close of the meeting a little girl 
belonging to the family withdrew, and placing 
herself behind the door, began to weep very 
bitterly. Her father, seeing this, asked her the 
cause, and she told him she was afraid he would 
go to hell on account of his swearing. To 
pacify her he promised that he would leave off 
swearing. This stopped her weeping, and in 



REPROVING THE SAILOR. 193 

great joy she ran to her mother, informing her 
what her father had promised. 

I am happy to say the father kept his 
promise. He swore no more. He repented 
of this and all his other sins, and became a very 
devoted Christian. How happy that little 
girl must have been to see so great a change in 
her dear father. 



THE LITTLE GIRL REPROVING THE SAILOR. 

Oxe day a sailor, whose ship was lying in 
the port of Xew York, started for a ramble in 
the city, with his heart full of wickedness 
and mischief. In one of the streets he met a 
pious little girl, whom he tried to vex and tease 
by the use of vile and sinful language. The 
girl, taking his language meekly, fixed a reprov- 
ing glance upon his countenance, and with a 
solemn tone told him to remember that he 
must meet her at the bar of God. At this un- 
expected reproof he was both surprised and af- 
fected. Ashamed at his conduct, and reflecting 
upon what the girl had said, he returned to his 
ship. The reproof had sunk deep into his 
heart, and he could not banish it from his 
mind. Wherever he went, in whatever he 



194 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

engaged, the face of the little reprover was 
present before his mind, and her solemn words, 
" You must meet me at the bar of God," 
troubled him greatly. The more he reflected 
upon these words the more troubled he be- 
came ; nor could he find any rest until he 
broke off his sins by seeking for God's con- 
verting grace. The happy result was that he 
became a pious man ; and we sincerely hope 
that he will not only meet that Christian girl 
at the bar of God, but also in heaven. 



THE LITTLE GIRL AND HER PAPIST FATHER. 

The following interesting narrative appeared 
several years ago in the Advocate of Moral 
Eeform. But it will probably be new to my 
little readers. The writer says : 

"I was in the city of P., seated in the 
study of the brother with whom I had been 
laboring, when a little German girl, of twelve 
or fourteen years of age, entered the room, and 
bursting into tears, exclaimed in an animated 

tone, 'O Mr. , I am sure the Lord is 

going to convert my father. I do believe he 
will be converted now,' she added, with so 



THE PAPIST FATHER. 195 

much emotion as drew from me the inquiry : 
' Of whom is she speaking V ' Tell the gen- 
tleman yourself, my child,' said my friend, 
1 what God has done for you, and what he has 
been trying to do for him.' 

"From the simple story of the girl I gath- 
ered the following : A year and a half before, 
in her ignorance and sin, she had been led to 
enter the church where my friend was preach- 
ing, and while there the Lord graciously met 
her and converted her soul. Full of joy and 
wonder, she ran home to tell her father, who 
was a bigoted Catholic, what a Saviour she 
had found, but to her surprise he became very 
angry ; he beat her cruelly, and forbade her 
to mention the subject again in his house. 
She continued to attend church, and expressed 
a wish to join with the people of God in com- 
memorating the dying love of her Saviour. 
He told her if she did he would beat her to 
death. With this prospect she determined to 
do her duty, putting her trust in Him who 
hath said, ' I will never leave nor forsake thee.' 
When she returned home and told her father 
what she had done he beat her most unmerci- 
fully and drove her from the house, telling her 
never to return until she had given up her new- 
fangled religion. Thus forsaken of her father,. 



196 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

the Lord took her up ; she was provided with a 
place in a pious family, at service, reserving to 
herself the first Monday in every month, which 
day she spent in distributing tracts to all the 
German families of her acquaintance, and 
whenever permitted, she prayed with them be- 
fore she left, always taking her father's house 
in the way, though sure of being beaten and 
driven from it. Month after month she offered 
the hardened man a tract, at the same time 
entreating him to think of his poor soul, and 
offering to pray with him. Although uniformly 
driven away with severe blows, she said : ' I 
did not care for the blows, for, sir, my poor 
father's soul was all I thought of or cared for.' 
In this course she persevered for eighteen 
months, without seeing any fruit of her labors. 
Two months before I met her she found, 
on visiting her father, that he was in tears over 
his work ; he suffered her to read, converse, and 
pray without interruption, and at parting bade 
her come again. The next month he was 
even more tender, and on the day on which I 
saw her she said she had seen him again, and 
she said, c O how changed was my poor father! 
with tears he begged me to forgive him and pray 
for him. I told him I had laid nothing up 
against him, and asked him to pray for him- 



A SMART GIRL. 197 

self. He knelt down by my side, but could 
only say, " O Lord, forgive, forgive ! O Lord, 
forgive !" And now, sir, I am sure the Lord 
will hear and convert niy poor father.' 

" The next evening, on entering the praying 
circle, I recognized the voice of the little Ger- 
man girl in the individual who was addressing 
the throne of grace. Her father was there* in- 
quiring with trembling eagerness the way to 
the Saviour's feet. The father and daughter 
left the room together that night, rejoicing in 
the grace which had washed away their stains." 



A SMART GIRL. 



Ann Maria Schurman was born in the year 
1607. Her extraordinary genius was discovered 
at six years of age, when she cut all sorts of fig- 
ures in paper with her scissors, without a pattern. 
At eight she learned to draw flowers in a very 
agreeable manner. At ten she took but three 
hoars to learn embroidery. Afterwards she 
was taught music, both vocal and instrumental, 
painting, sculpture, and engraving, in each of 
which she made great proficiency. She ex- 
celled in miniature painting, and in cutting por- 



198 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

traits upon glass with a diamond. Hebrew, 
Greek, and Latin became so familiar to her 
that the most learned men were astonished at 
it. She spoke French, Italian, and English like 
a native of those nations. Her penmanship in 
almost all those languages was so beautiful 
that many persons requested specimens of it 
for preservation in their cabinets. 



HOW A VAIN GIRL WAS CURED. 

Emma returned from a visit to her uncle's, 
vexed and unhappy. Her father perceiving it, 
invited her to take a walk with him. On their 
way they passed the shop of a fashionable 
dress-maker, when Emma exclaimed : " This is 
where aunt purchased Maria's new pelisse, 
father ! You cannot think what a contrast there 
was in hers and mine. One looked so nicely, 
and the other so old-fashioned and shabby, I 
was ashamed to walk with her." 

" I am very sorry for that," said her father ; 
" yet if you had not told me I should not have 
discovered anything so mean in your pelisse. 
However, since wearing it exposes you to so 
serious a mortification, I will make you a 



HOW A VAIN GIRL WAS CURED. 199 

present of a new pelisse like Maria's, if your 
mother has no objection.' 5 Emma thanked 
him heartily, and her good-humor returned. 

The object of the walk was to visit a little 
girl who belonged to the Sabbath school, who 
had been absent several weeks from sickness. 
They found her pale, emaciated, and dejected, 
sitting on a cold day by a few dying coals on 
the grate. She was just recovering from a vi- 
olent fever. 

"Where is your mother, my good girl?" 
inquired Emma's father. The little girl told 
him that her father's wages were insufficient to 
support the family, and her mother had lost 
much time in taking care of her. She was gone 
out to work, to get something for her and six 
other children to eat. 

By this time Emma's face was suffused with 
tears ; and as they went out she entreated her 
father to send some coals to keep them warm, 
and some food for them to eat. But he told 
her that he could not afford it, for her pelisse 
would cost as much as they could spare for a 
long time to come. " Forgive me, my dear 
father," she said ; " and since vanity can only be 
gratified by such cruel selfishness as this, I hope 
I shall never again be ashamed if my clothes 
are not so fashionable and expensive as Ma- 



200 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

ria's." That was a noble reply from a gener- 
ous spirit. If you think so, girls, imitate Em- 
ma's spirit and conduct. 



AN AFFECTIONATE SISTER. 

Many years ago Rev. Mr. Knibb went out 
as a missionary to Jamaica. Here he opened 
a school for the instruction of the native child- 
ren. Among the children who attended Mr. 
Knibb's school were a little boy and his 
sister. One day the boy uttered some profane 
language, in punishment for which his teacher 
informed him that he should shut him up some 
hours after the close of school. The little girl 
now came forward and begged to be shut up 
instead of her brother. To try the sincerity 
of her affection, Mr. Knibb consented to accept 
her offer; and she cheerfully took her broth- 
er's place, while he was dismissed and allowed 
to start for home. But the teacher, not wish- 
ing to punish so good a girl, soon released her, 
when she said : 

" School-massa, me know it bad to curse; 
and if my broder eber do it 'gin, me bring him 
for you to punish." 




No. 687. 



THE 



AFFECTIONATE DAUGHTER. 



AN AFFECTIONATE DAUGHTER. 203 

On their way home the little boy swore 
again, and she immediately brought him back 
to be punished. Now that little girl was not 
only affectionate, but truthful also. 



AN AFFECTIONATE DAUGHTER. 
Some fifty years ago, while Napoleon I. was 
Empex'or of France, a number of men banded 
together and plotted to take his life. Most of 
these were men of rank and distinction. The 
plot was discovered, and some of the conspira- 
tors were apprehended and condemned to die. 
Among those sentenced to die was General 
Lajolais. The general had an only daughter, 
fourteen years of age, who was remarkably 
beautiful. The poor child was in a state of 
fearful agony in view of the fate of her father. 
One morning, without communicating her in- 
tentions to any one, she set out alone, and on 
foot, for St. Cloud. Presenting herself before 
the gate of the palace, by her youth, her beauty, 
her tears, and her woe, she persuaded the 
keeper, a kind-hearted man, to introduce her to 
the apartment of the empress and daughter. 
Josephine and Hortense were so deeply moved 



204 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

by the anguish of the distracted child that they 
contrived to introduce her to the presence of 
Napoleon as he was passing through one of 
the apartments of the palace, accompanied by 
several of his ministers. The fragile child, in 
a delirium of emotion, threw herself at his feet, 
and exclaimed: "Pardon, sire! pardon for my 
father!" 

Napoleon, surprised at this sudden and un- 
expected sight, exclaimed in displeasure : " I 
have said that I wished for no such scenes. 
Who has dared to introduce you here, in disre- 
gard of my prohibition? Leave me, miss!*' 
So saying, he turned to pass away from her. 

But the girl threw her arms around his 
knees, and with her eyes suffused with tears, 
and agony depicted in every feature of her 
beautiful upturned face, exclaimed : " Pardon ! 
pardon ! pardon ! it is for my father." 

"And who is your father 1 ?" said Napoleon 
kindly. " Who are you ?" 

"I am Miss Lajolais," she replied, "and my 
father is doomed to die." 

Napoleon hesitated for a moment, and then 
exclaimed : " Ah, miss, but this is the second 
time in which your father has conspired against 
the state. I can do nothing for you." 

"Alas, sire!" the poor child exclaimed, with 



AST AFFECTIONATE DAUGHTER. 205 

great simplicity, "I know it ; but the first time 
papa was innocent; and to-day I do not ask 
for justice — I implore pardon, pardon for him!" 

Napoleon was deeply moved. His lip 
trembled, tears filled his eyes; and taking the 
little hand of the child in both his own, he ten- 
derly pressed it, and said : 

" Well, my child, yes ! For your sake . I 
will forgive your father. This is enough. Now 
rise and leave me." 

At these words the girl fainted, and fell ap- 
parently lifeless upon the floor. She was con- 
veyed to the apartment of the empress, where 
she soon revived, and, though in a state of ex- 
treme exhaustion, proceeded immediately to 
Paris. M. Lavalette, then aid-de-camp of Na- 
poleon, and his wife, accompanied her to the 
prison of the Conciergerie with the joyful tid- 
ings. When she arrived in the gloomy cell 
where her father was immured she threw her- 
self upon his neck, and her convulsive sobbing 
for a time did not allow her the power of 
speaking a word. Suddenly her frame be- 
came convulsed, her eyes fixed, and she fell in 
entire unconsciousness into the arms of Mad- 
ame Lavalette. When she revived reason had 
fled, and the affectionate daughter was a hope- 
less maniac. 

Facts about Girls. 1 ? 



206 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

In the evening the emperor was informed of 
this sad event. He dropped his head in silence, 
mused painfully, brushed a tear from his eve 
and was heard to murmur in a low vi 
"Poor child ! poor child ! a father who has such 
a daughter is still more culpable. I will take 
care of her and of her mother." 



MY BROTHER IS PRETTY TOO. 

I>- the city of New York is a place called the 
" Battery.'' A few years ago a gentleman was 
passing along this part of the city, when he 
met with a lively little girl running her hoop. 
The gentleman, gently putting his hand upon 
her head, said : " You are a pretty little girl/' 
Her little brother being close at her side, she 
patted him on the head, and looking the gentle- 
man in the face, said : " And my brother is a 
nice little boy too.* 5 

That little girl loved her brother, and 
though you may never have seen her. yet I 
think you can hardly fail to love her for that 
beautiful expression of sisterly affection. 



OBDER AND NEATNESS. 207 



ORDER AND NEATNESS. 

One day a lady inquired of her little daugh- 
ter : " Which of your two friends, Emeline or 
Louisa, do you like best?" 

"I am much attached to both of them, 
mother. Louisa is a very pleasant girl, and yet 
I never like to go see her at her own home." 

" You astonish me, Mary. What can be the 
reason of this ?" 

" I hardly like to tell you, mother, but I sup- 
pose I must. She is always in confusion. 
Everything seems to be out of its place. 
School-books, reading-books, rubbers, hat, 
scissors, thimble, and everything she has to do 
with, are thrown about and scattered every- 
where. Whenever she wants anything she has 
to spend so much time in seeking it that she be- 
comes fretful and impatient, and makes every 
one about her unhappy. Many times I have 
thought I would never call upon her again." 

"If you have given a truthful description 
of Louisa's habits, it really must be unpleasant 
to visit her. Have you ever spoken to her 
about these things V 

" No, mother. I have often thought of doing 
so, but it is unpleasant even to make the at- 



208 FACTS ABOUT GIKLS. 

tempt ; and yet I should be very glad to have 
a kind friend who had the courage to point out 
to me my faults. I think I could take it with- 
out offense and would try to reform." 

"I am very glad to hear you speak thus, 
Mary, for if I am not greatly mistaken you are 
in danger of becoming quite as disorderly in 
your habits as you say Louisa is ; and now that 
you have given me the liberty so to do, I will 
speak freely to you about the matter. You 
have not yet gone so far astray from neatness 
as you charge upon Louisa, but you must 
not forget that evil habits once commenced 
increase upon us rapidly. Did you leave 
your room in proper order this morning 1 
Did you find your cloak and hat in their proper 
place? or were your books and slate in the 
bookcase when all these things were required 
on the ringing of the school-bell ? Did not the 
time employed in looking them up cause you 
to be too late at school ] What do you say to 
these things, Mary ?" 

"I confess, mother, that I am very faulty. I 
thank you for showing me my errors. I will 
try to reform." 

" Years ago I heard a minister give the fol- 
lowing eastern fable : ' The fault-finder carries 
two bags, one on his back and the other on 



THE NOBLE-HEARTED CHILDREN. 209 

his breast suspended by a strap thrown over 
his shoulder, Into the bag on his back he 
throws his own faults, and into that on his 
breast he throws those of his neighbors. By 
this plan his own faults are not seen, while 
those of his neighbors are always in sight.' 

" Now, Mary, you cannot fail to see the 
meaning of this fable. Would it not be well 
that we should all change the position of those 
bags, so that our own failings may ever be seen 
by ourselves, and thus seeing them we try to 
cure or remove them ? M 



THE NOBLE-HEARTED CHILDREN. 

A few years ago I met with the foUowing 
story, which pleased me so much I have pre- 
served it to the present time, and I now give 
it to my little readers : 

" Last evening," says the narrator, " I took 
supper with Lydia's father and mother. Be- 
fore supper, Lydia, her parents, and myself 
were sitting in the room together, and her lit- 
tle brother Oliver was in the yard drawing his 
cart about. The mother went out and brought 
in some peaches, a few of which ,were large 



210 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

red-cheeked rare-ripes, the rest small, ordinary- 
peaches. The father handed me one of the 
rare-ripes, gave one to the mother, then gave 
one of the best to his little daughter, who was 
eight years old. He then took one of the 
smaller ones, gave it to Lydia, and told her to 
go and give it to her brother. He was four 
years old. Lydia went out, and was gone 
about ten minutes, and then came in. 

" Did you give your brother the peach I 
sent him'?" asked the father. 

Lydia blushed, turned away, and did not 
answer. 

" Did you give your brother the peach I 
sent him ?" asked the father rather sharply. 

" No, father," said she, " I did not give him 
that" 

" What did you do with it V he asked. 

" I ate it," said Lydia. 

" What ! did you not give your brother 
any?" asked the father. 

"Yes, father," said she, "I gave him mine." 

" Why did you not give him the one I told 
you to give V asked the father sternly. 

"Because, father," said Lydia, "I thought he 
would like mine better." 

" But you ought not to disobey your' father," 
said he. 



THE KOBLE -HEARTED CHILDREN. 211 

"I did not mean to be disobedient, father," 
said she, and her bosom began to heave and 
her chin to quiver. 

" But you were, my daughter," said he. 

"I thought you would not be displeased 
with me, father," said Lydia, " if I did give 
brother the biggest peach," and the tears began 
to roll down her cheeks. 

" But I wanted you to have the biggest," 
said the father ; " you are older and larger than 
he is." 

" I wanted to give the best to brother," said 
the noble girl. 

" Why V asked the father, scarcely able to 
contain himself. 

" Because," answered the dear generous sis- 
ter, " I love him so. I always feel best when 
he gets the best things." 

" You are right, my precious daughter," said 
the father, as he fondly, and proudly folded her 
in his arms. " You are right, and you may be 
certain your happy father can never be dis 
pleased with you for wishing to give up the 
best of everything to your affectionate little 
brother. He is a dear and noble little boy, 
and I am glad you love "him so. Do you think 
he loves you as well as you do him V 

" Yes, father," said the little girl, " I think he 



212 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

does, for when I offered him the largest peach 
he would not take it, and wanted me to keep 
it, and it was a good while before I could get 
him to take it." 



WHERE IS YOUR BIBLE, BROTHER? 

Soon after gold had been discovered in Cali- 
fornia, Alfred Bell was among the great number 
of enterprising young men who started for that 
far distant portion of our country. He left a 
pleasant home, a kind mother, and a little 
sister to go and dig for gold in the California 
mines. 

After an absence of three years he returned 
to his mother and sister, who, you may be sure, 
were very glad to see him. 

Addressing his happy sister, he said : " I have 
something pretty in my trunk for you, Minnie. 
You see I have but little baggage. That one 
small trunk has been with me through sunshine 
and storm." 

"Let me unpack it brother, please," said 
Minnie ; " I will be careful and not tumble any 
of your nice clothes." Taking the key from Al- 
fred's hand, she proceeded carefully to take out 



WHERE IS YOUR BIBLE, BROTHER? 213 

one thing after another, and put them on one 
side, until she came to the bottom of the trunk. 
She paused a moment, and seeming to distrust 
herself, she put her hand first upon one article 
and then upon another, then looking up earn- 
estly into her brother's face, while she still sat 
upon the floor beside his unpacked things, she 
said : 

" Where is your Bible, brother V 7 

" I have none," he said quickly. . 

"No Bible, Alfred?" said Minnie, as she 
arose and put her hands upon his arm ; " no 
Bible, brother?" 

" No, Minnie," he said, a little impatient at 
her questions. " I left all my books in New 
York when I started for California ; they took 
up too much room." 

" And you have had no Bible for three whole 
years, brother?" 

" No, Minnie," he answered. 

"Whose did you read at night, then, 
brother?" 

" I did not read anybody's, Minnie. Come, 
don't bother me now. Let us find that pretty 
fine dress I have for you." 

"No, stop a moment, brother. Have you 
not read the Bible for three whole years ?" 

" No, Minnie, I haven't, and I do not know 



214 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

that I have seen one since I have been in Cali- 
fornia." 

Minnie stood and looked at him in utter as- 
tonishment, while the tears poured down her 
cheeks. At length, raising her eyes, she said 
in a low earnest voice : 

" O brother, were you not afraid that God 
would forget you?" 

This was a powerful appeal to that careless 
brother's heart. He took the little Minnie in 
his arms, and kissing her said : 

" I am almost afraid that I have been forget- 
ting God, Minnie," 

Minnie kiss.ed her brother and forgave him. 
Her earnest appeal had touched his heart. That 
night he opened the sacred volume and read 
aloud from its blessed pages. He then said : 

" Mother, pray for me, for I have wandered 
far from God. I fear he may forget me." 

Night after night the earnest prayer ascended 
to the throne of grace. The brother was re- 
claimed from his wanderings, and now lives to 
be a blessing to his home, a truly Christian 
man, walking in the commandments of the 
Lord. Learn from this narrative how much 
good even little girls may do if they will 
but try. 



THE BLIND GIRL'S GRATITUDE. 215 



THE LITTLE BLIND GIRL'S GRATITUDE. 

A little girl, both lame and blind, sat be- 
neath the shade of a tree one bright summer 
morning, listening to the song of the birds, 
which were warbling among the branches over 
her head. The zephyrs whispered among the 
leaves, and played around her, fanning her 
brow, and bringing a delicious coolness to her 
languid frame. The clover blossoms and vio- 
lets lifted up their heads, and though she saw 
them not, yet she smelt their sweet perfume. 
She sat upon the soft green grass in thoughtful 
attitude, and upon her pale cheeks the tear-drop 
glistened. She wept, but her tears were not 
those of sorrow and discontent, but of love and 
gratitude that were swelling in her heart. 
Clasping her little hands, and raising her sight- 
less eyes to heaven, she expressed her gratitude 
to God in the following beautiful language : 

" Father, I thank thee that thou hast made 
the dear little birds to sing for me, and the 
sweet flowers to perfume the air, and the cool 
breezes to fan my cheek. O, dear, good Fa- 
ther, how thou hast blessed me !" 

How much more reason has every little girl 
who reads this to thank God than had the little 



216 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

girl of whom the story speaks. You can see 
the beautiful flowers, the merry birds, the 
green grass, the lofty trees, the broad rivers, 
the blue sky, the mighty sun, the clear moon, 
the twinkling stars, and a thousand other ob- 
jects, all of which were hid from the grateful 
blind girl. Did you ever thank God that you 
were not bom blind? If not, think for a mo- 
ment what a source of happiness it is to look 
upon the many objects by which you are 
everywhere surrounded. If you do this, I 
think you will say: "/ thank thee my heav- 
enly Father that I was not bom without sight?" 



A LITTLE GIRL'S FIRMNESS. 
During a time of revival in the city of 
Hartford, Conn., a little girl went forward for 
prayers to the mourners' seat. Her father, a 
reckless man, threatened to punish her if she 
should do so again. She thought upon the matter 
for a short time, and came to the conclusion 
that as children are required to obey their par- 
ents only " in the Lord" she was at liberty to 
disobey even her father, when his commands 
interfered with the salvation of her soul; <md 



A LITTLE GIRL'S FIRMNESS. 217 

therefore with fear and trembling she ventured 
again, and this time she found peace to her 
soul through believing in Jesus. Her father 
was at the door and had seen all her move- 
ments. The minister being informed of this 
fact, asked the girl if he should go and speak 
with her father. She advised him not to do 
so, saying her father was a very wicked man, 
and might strike him. But the minister, not 
fearing the man, went and informed him that 
his daughter was at the altar, and invited him 
to accompany her. To the astonishment of all 
who knew him, he complied with the invitation, 
and was soon a penitent at the feet of Jesus. 
"When he saw his daughter at the altar his heart 
was affected. He knew that she was right, and 
that he was wrong. Soon both father and 
daughter were happy in the Lord. 

But the conversion of her father was not the 
only happy consequence of this girl's Christian 
courage. At the time she took this decided 
course there was present a young lady, the 
adopted daughter of rich parents, who were 
intending to leave her all their property. This 
young lady was painfully feeling her need of 
religion. Her parents had heard of her spir- 
itual concern. They sternly commanded her 
to lay the subject of religion out of her mind 



218 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 

or leave their house forever. She hesitated. 
She prayed about the matter, but still was un- 
decided. But when she saw the conduct of 
this courageous girl, she boldly followed her 
example. She sought and found the favor 
of her heavenly Father. Her adopted par- 
ents fulfilled their threat, by turning her away 
from their door ; but she found the truth of that 
promise : " When my father and mother for- 
sake me, then the Lord will take me up." 



A VALUABLE SECRET. 

The following dialogue between two girls 
might perhaps be of service to many other lit- 
tle girls. I have known many girls very much 
like the Mary here spoken of. 

"Sarah, I wish you would lend me your 
thimble; I can never find mine when I 
want it," 

"Why can you not find it. Mary?" 

"If you do not choose to lend me yours I 
can borrow of somebody else." 

" I am willing to lend it to you. Mary. 
Here it is." ? 

"I knew you would let me have it." 



A VALUABLE SECRET. 219 

" Why do you always come to me to bor- 
row when you have lost anything, Mary V 

"Because you never lose your things, and 
always know where to find them." 

" How do you suppose I always know where 
to find my things ?" 

"I am sure I cannot tell. If I knew I mighty 
perhaps, sometimes contrive to find my own." 

This is my rule : I have a place for everything, 
and after I have done using it I put everything 
down in its proper place." 

" Yes, just as though your life depended 
on it!" 

" My life does not depend on it, Mary, but 
my convenience does very much." 

"Well, I never can find time to put my 
things away." 

" How much more time will it take to put a 
thing away in its proper place than it will to 
hunt after it when it is lost - ?" 

"Well, I'll never borrow of you again, you 
may depend on it." 

"Why? You are not affronted, Mary, I 
hope?" 

"O no, dear Sarah! I am ashamed, and I 
am determined now to do as you do — to 
have a place for everything and everything in 
its place" 



220 FACTS ABOUT GIRLS. 



BURYING THE BIBLE. 

In a Union prayer-meeting held in Cincin- 
nati, a most affecting incident was related of a 
little girl, a poor, forlorn, forsaken child, who 
being a Sunday-school scholar, and afterward a 
Christian, became possessed of a Bible, and O 
how unspeakably precious did that Bible be- 
come to this little girl ! Such was her love for 
the sacred volume that she buried it in the 
garden, for fear her parents, who were Roman 
Catholics, would take it away from her and de- 
stroy it. But by means of that same Bible, 
both of those parents afterward became pious, 
and gave abundant evidence of being truly con- 
verted. She had no longer to bury her Bible 
in order that it might be preserved. 



THE END. 



A V H. 15 .1 861 



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